‘I was trapped too’: Neighbor captures video of shots fired during standoff in east Charlotte

CHARLOTTE — New information has been released about a deadly shootout that left four officers dead and four officers hurt on Monday.

Officers said they were serving a warrant at an east Charlotte home when the suspect, 39-year-old Terry Clark Hughes, Jr., began firing at officers.

The four officers killed in the ambush have been identified as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Officer Joshua Eyer, North Carolina Department of Adult Correction veterans Sam Poloche and Alden Elliott, and Deputy US Marshal Thomas Weeks.

The other four officers who were hurt are expected to be okay.

During the shootout, Chopper 9 Skyzoom captured the moment an armored truck crashed through a neighbor’s yard to get to the suspect’s home on Galway Drive.

That neighbor told Channel 9 reporter Eli Brand that he witnessed the entire event.

Saing Chhoeun said he was standing outside when the US Marshals showed up and gunfire erupted. He said he was stuck inside for hours on end.

“I was trapped too. I was in the back of my door trying to get in, and they were shooting each other,” Chhoeun said.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

• Police not looking for any more suspects in deadly officer shootings
• CMPD mourns recent ‘Officer of the Month’ killed during deadly shootout
• Department of Adult Correction workers killed in Charlotte shootout
• Deadly standoff turned neighborhood into warzone, residents say

Chhoeun documented the whole incident on Facebook Live. His video captured police outside of his home taking and returning gunfire and, at one point, even capturing an armored truck that crashed through his yard to rescue a US Marshal who had been shot and was still trapped by gunfire.

“When the US Marshall got hit down and they couldn’t get him because of the shooter being over there, they had to get an armored truck through my backyard to block him to get him out. That was the only way to get him out,” he explained. “He kept shooting, and I saw the ground like popcorn. Pop pop pop pop pop.”

Chopper 9 Skyzoom also captured those moments as the truck ripped through the backyard before speeding away for waiting paramedics to take that marshal to the hospital. It is unclear if that marshal was one of the men who died.

Chhoeun said he did not know his neighbor and that what happened was senseless.

“He cannot end his life and bring three or four police lives with him. It’s not right. He should give up and not have this happen,” Chhoeun explained.

VIDEO: 4 officers killed, 4 hurt during east Charlotte standoff

4 officers killed, 4 hurt during east Charlotte standoff

©2024 Cox Media Group