CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Two Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers are on administrative leave after they were involved in a deadly shooting Thursday night in northeast Charlotte.
According to CMPD Chief Kerr Putney, officers responded to a 911 call for shots fired on a CATS bus near the intersection of North Tryon Street and University City Boulevard just before 10 p.m.
When police arrived, they discovered that a person had been shot in the lower leg on the bus.
.@CMPD talked to media @wcnc 1 person shot by officers NLT inj. 2 cops involved. Shooting on @CATSRideTransit bus pic.twitter.com/eN0sA5VqKb
— Xavier Walton (@xmanwalton) June 3, 2016
Putney said officers Michael Bell and Garret Tryon located the suspect, 18-year-old Rodney Rodriguez Smith, down the street. Police perceived an “imminent lethal threat,” and shot Smith.
"We did respond to a 911 call about shots fired, the officers got to the scene and saw the shooting actually took place on a bus where someone as shot in the lower leg, potentially the ankle," Putney said.
"Our officers started up Tryon Street and they saw a suspect that fit that description, they exited their vehicles and engaged with the suspect and gave him verbal commands," Putney said. "At that point at least two of our officers perceived an imminent threat -- imminent lethal threat -- and they shot the suspect, who was armed."
CMPD says the victim shot by Smith suffered minor injuries and that no officers were injured.
Placing both officers on administrative leave after a shooting is standard procedure within CMPD.
