CHARLOTTE — Grief-stricken members of the community filed into a local church Tuesday night to honor the four fallen law enforcement officers killed in an ambush at an east Charlotte home the day before.
[ Police not looking for any more suspects in deadly officer shootings ]
The Charlotte Clergy Coalition for Justice, Union Seminary: Center for Justice and Reconciliation, and MeckMin hosted the vigil at Little Rock AME Zion Church in Uptown Charlotte.
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North Carolina Department of Adult Correction Officers Sam Poloche and Alden Elliott, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Joshua Eyer, and U.S. Deputy Marshal Thomas Weeks were shot and killed in an ambush. The U.S. Marshal Fugitive Task Force was trying to serve a felony warrant on Terry Clark Hughes, who was killed in the exchange of gunfire. Four other officers are recovering after being shot.
“Our people are hurting,” said Dr. Amantha Barbee, the senior pastor of Quail Hollow Presbyterian Church. “We are hurting. We have unanswered questions.”
City leaders filled the first few rows, including Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles.
“First of all, this community hasn’t been anything but generous,” Lyles said. “Generous to know that these officers that were trying to get someone who had done bad things, lost their lives.”
U.S. Rep Alma Adams, D-District 12, said she wants lawmakers to turn their anguish into action.
“I’m calling on leaders in Congress, my colleagues, to not forget what happened here in Charlotte,” she said. “I’m calling on them to step up and to join me. We need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and require safe storage of guns. And to pass universal background checks.”