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CMPD releases several videos of fatal 2016 officer-involved shooting

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released dashcam and bodycam video footage Thursday morning of a fatal officer-involved shooting from 2016.

In addition, CMPD also released four surveillance videos in their entirety that were captured from the cameras of the convenience store where the shooting happened.

On April 16, 2016, officers responded to a call about a man armed with a gun at a convenience store on Tuckaseegee Road. When they arrived, police said they saw Sylasone Ackhavong, 41, in the parking lot, waving a gun and wearing a bulletproof vest.

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The SWAT team was called to the scene and negotiators spoke with Ackhavong for more than an hour, trying to convince him to drop his gun, before officers perceived an imminent deadly threat and fired at Ackhavong, killing him.

The SWAT team members who were involved in the shooting were identified as Officer Olin Lester and Officer Derek Rud.

An outside, independent investigation was requested and the case was managed by the State Bureau of Investigation. The Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office reviewed the SBI case and determined that the officers’ actions were lawful.

Then-District Attorney Andrew Murray said that Ackhavong could have shot several officers without warning and officer Lester was justified firing his service weapon.

Murray's report said Ackhavong repeatedly told officers they were going to have to shoot him and said his death would be on their conscience and not his.

Friends and co-workers told police that Ackhavong suddenly started acting strange, seeing ghosts and thinking he was being poisoned about a week before the shooting.

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