CMPD identifies officer, injured man involved in south Charlotte shooting

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg police released the name of the officer who they say shot a man Wednesday morning in south Charlotte.

Officials identified Officer Francine Delano as the officer who shot Alonzo Castro. She has been with CMPD since Jan. 23, 2006 and is currently assigned to the Westover Division. She has been placed on paid administrative leave which is standard procedure. The Internal Affairs Bureau will also conduct a separate investigation to decide if department policies were followed.

Detectives determined during the investigation that Delano responded to a 911 call for service on Woodlawn Road regarding to an assault with a deadly weapon with shots fired.

A witness called 911 and reported seeing a robbery in the alley. Castro showed a gun and tried to rob a victim, investigators said. Another man, Isidro Albarran, is accused of firing several shots when the victim tried to leave the scene.

911 Call: Woodlawn Road Shooting (Part 1)

911 Call: Woodlawn Road Shooting (Part 2)

Investigators said Delano was nearby and heard the shots and immediately responded to the area.

She pulled over in the parking lot of a Days Inn, and when she got out of her patrol car, she saw two men in the alley, identified as Castro and Albarran.

Delano said the armed man's actions gave her the "impression that her life was in jeopardy," so she fired her gun and hit him in the leg, according to Chief Kerr Putney.

Delano was not hurt during the incident.

When more officers arrived at the scene, they applied a tourniquet to Castro's wound.

Paramedics took him to Carolinas Medical Center and he has since been released and taken to police headquarters, where he was interviewed by detectives.

Officers charged Castro with assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon.

The other man connected to the case, Albarran, has also been arrested. He's charged with discharging a firearm within city limits.

Witness accounts of the shooting

Channel 9 spoke with two men who saw the shooting, but didn’t want to be identified. They said the suspect had been firing shots in the parking lot, then fired at the police officer as she confronted him.

“I heard two gunshots and then one more gunshot, as soon as I heard the last gunshot he fell,” one witness said.

A second man said he saw the suspect turn his gun on the officer.

"The guy shot at the officer twice, and that's when the officer shot the guy,” he said. “It was 100 percent justifiable. The officer did nothing wrong.”

Police have not released details about a shot being fired at the officer.

Investigators found the man's gun at the scene, officials said. They placed multiple evidence markers outside the nearby Azteca Mexican Restaurant.

Witnesses told reporter Mark Barber that they have video of the shooting, and it is being reviewed by police.

The shooting comes weeks after hundreds protested the deadly officer-involved shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. The shooting is still an issue among people in the Charlotte community and has also created some concern among officers.

“I think certainly frustration,” said Randy Hagler, president of the state Fraternal Order of Police.

Hagler said they’re concerned that officers might second guess a decision to use deadly force and it could cost them their lives.

“I can only hope that our officers will rely on their training that they get all the time and continue to do what they know they have to do in this line of work,” Hagler said.

Cox Media Group