Radio traffic, 911 calls released in deadly north Charlotte officer shooting

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The 911 calls and police radio traffic connected to a deadly officer-involved shooting in north Charlotte were released Monday.

[IMAGES:  Authorities investigate officer-involved shooting]

A woman told dispatchers during a 911 call on March 8 that a man, later identified as 25-year-old Yaroslav Mosiiuk, was inside a home on Justice Avenue was having mental health issues.

"Is he having a mental breakdown or is he trying to kill himself?" questioned the dispatcher.

"I think he's having a mental breakdown. He hasn't slept in days," the caller said.

(Click PLAY to listen to 911 call)

The woman told dispatchers that Mosiiuk was trying to open a small box under a bed so he could load a rifle's magazine.

"My boyfriend hid the key somewhere, I hope he doesn't find it," the caller said.

During the police radio traffic, officers could be heard locating Mosiiuk with the rifle and moving in to the area. But as officers started to position themselves, one officer yelled out shots fired.

(Click PLAY to listen to the audio recording)

"I pulled the trigger. I put the shot out. It was me," said Officer Brian Walsh, who was identified as the one who fired the shot.

Police Chief Kerr Putney said that Walsh perceived an imminent threat and fired his gun.

"What we know is we encountered a man who had a rifle, a hunting rifle. One of the officers perceived a threat, a lethal threat based on that possession, and fired his weapon," Putney said.

(Click PLAY to watch raw video of officers standing around rifle)

Paramedics took Mosiiuk to Carolinas Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Putney said both Mosiiuk and Walsh are white.

The Internal Affairs Bureau will conduct a separate but parallel investigation to determine whether CMPD policies and procedures were implemented during the incident. Walsh has also been put on administrative leave, which is standard procedure.

Putney told Channel 9 that they are reviewing Walsh's body camera footage.

Witness accounts of the officer-involved shooting

A witness told Channel 9 that she saw Mosiiuk point a gun at police.

Putney didn't say if Mosiiuk fired his gun, but neighbors reported hearing only a single shot.

Moments after the shooting, a witness ducked for cover before grabbing her cellphone to record video.

“It was very real to see, definitely,” the woman who did not want to be identified said Thursday.

She watched Mosiiuk come out of the house with the gun.

“He came out, no words, just pointing,” she said.

He then pointed it at one officer after another.

“And as soon as he turned to the officer who was standing up the street, you hear one shot go off,” the witness said.

A friend of Mosiiuk's told Channel 9 Thursday that she was with him moments before officers came to his home.

"Twenty minutes before they shot him, me and him hugged," said his friend who did not want her face shown.

She said she watched the two officers walk up to Mosiiuk's home and suddenly everything changed.

"When they got up on the porch and seen him with the gun on the inside, they told everybody to get out of the way and get back and get down," she said.

Mosiiuk's friend said officers ran for cover and she heard them yelling several times for Mosiiuk to put the gun down, including one officer, who she said looked like a sniper, who was right in her front yard.

"He told the guy to put it down, and the sniper got down like that, he pulled the trigger and that was it," she said.

Paramedics took Mosiiuk to Carolinas Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Putney said both Mosiiuk and Walsh are white.

(Click PLAY to watch raw Chopper 9 video of the scene)

Mosiiuk's friend told Channel 9 she's just stunned by everything that happened.

"He talked normal, he looked normal, I didn't know something was wrong," she said.

(Click PLAY to watch our Facebook Live of Chopper 9 over the scene and Chief Putney's press conference)

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