CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A woman was taken to the hospital and a child was rescued from the scene after a SWAT situation in southeast Charlotte Monday night.
Officers with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department responded to Krefeld Glen Drive near East Independence Boulevard for a welfare call for service around 6:30 p.m. When officers were approaching the apartment, they heard yelling and what sounded like at least one shot fired inside, according to CMPD.
Officers entered the apartment and saw a woman with a gun nearby and told her to stop moving toward it, according to CMPD. At that point, CMPD says, one officer fired his weapon.
Officers then left the apartment and the CMPD SWAT team and negotiators arrived around 9:15 p.m. due to "the armed subject still inside the apartment and a possible juvenile in danger," according to a statement from CMPD.
Officials found the woman with at least one gunshot wound, and paramedics took her to the hospital. A gun was recovered at the scene, according to CMPD.
CMPD said a juvenile was rescued from the scene and was not believed to have any injuries.
Family members tell WCNC Charlotte that despite calling law enforcement for help, no mental health advocates were on the scene for support. They say their family member, identified as Denisha Branch, was, instead, shot multiple times and is still recovering.
“Nobody from mental health crisis. Nobody to alert or to speak to her from mental health crisis. It was all hostage negotiators, cops, SWAT," Barion McMillian, Branch's brother, said.
McMillian said Branch was an author and speaker. Branch even appeared on WCNC Charlotte last year to discuss her children's book, inspired by her daughter.
“I wanted her to grow up in a world where there is more love than hate," Branch said in a June 2022 interview.
But, in recent months, McMillian said Branch's mental health began to deteriorate significantly. On Monday, they called law enforcement for help but claimed they were met with aggression.
“I feel like if somebody from (mental health services) would have spoke to her, maybe she could’ve did something differently," McMillian said. "Maybe it could’ve went differently.”
McMillian said Branch had gunshot wounds through her abdomen and right arm and said the shooting took place in her bedroom.
As of Monday night, officers said it's still unclear if the woman was shot by police or herself. CMPD added that mental health advocates were called to the scene, but were diverted away once shots were fired.
“If it was a welfare call, it was a mental health case. So, you could have handled it better than what you did," Carlos Leung, who lives across from the unit where the shooting took place, said. "It was kid’s lives in that apartment and justice is going to be served.”
A stretch of Independence Boulevard between Village Lake Drive and Sardis Road North was closed in response to the investigation.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations is looking into the circumstances of what happened.
In response to the shooting, former FBI agent and federal prosecutor M. Quentin Williams told WCNC Charlotte that among the monumental responsibilities of law enforcement, there's no time to train officers in everything they need to know to be a mental health professional.
"Law enforcement officers are not trained to be mental health specialists," Williams said. "It would be better for mental health experts to show up on scene, as long as it's not too dangerous."
He believes supplementing more training for mental health experts could drastically change some outcomes, as long as they are in the right positions to aid law enforcement.
Williams suggests that if someone finds a loved one or themselves in a similar situation, with weapons present, they need to call 911 immediately.
Contact Kayland Hagwood at khagwood@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Contact Colin Mayfield at cmayfield@wcnc.com or follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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