CHARLOTTE — An armed suspect who was barricaded inside a northwest Charlotte home was taken into custody Wednesday morning, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
The SWAT standoff began just before 5:30 a.m. at a home on Toddville Road near Esther Lane and ended peacefully around 8 a.m. with the suspect in custody.
This was the second time CMPD’s SWAT team members were called to a scene within 48 hours.
Channel 9 spoke with the head of CMPD’s SWAT team Wednesday about what goes through officers’ minds when they respond to calls when they don’t know what the suspect’s intentions are.
CMPD’s SWAT team is like the special ops for the police department and is called out to some of the most dangerous situations.
There’s a lot that goes into it, which includes life-saving calculations while also understanding who they’re dealing with.
Quick decisions are made from the moment CMPD’s SWAT team is deployed.
“Having to make decisions that are very hard,” said Maj. Dave Johnson, who runs CMPD’s Special Operations Bureau, which includes its SWAT team.
A team was called out multiple times this week, including at a standoff that played out along Albemarle Road on Monday.
Police said it involved an armed man wanted on violent charges.
SWAT moved in and seven hours later, the suspect shot himself and later died.
Johnson said preservation of life is always the top goal, and his officers and negotiators are trained extensively, which includes mental health scenarios.
“They are FBI-trained at crisis negotiation,” Johnson said. “They have a full range of training topics that they cover on how to speak with empathy to gain a rapport with somebody.”
He said mental health is a factor in several SWAT calls.
Sometimes the department’s Community Policing Crisis Response Team and a clinician are brought in.
“When we think they can be a resource and help, they’ve been a part of the negotiations, even directly with subjects who are in a mental health crisis from time to time,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the safety priorities in a SWAT standoff are:
- If there are any potential hostages.
- Is there an innocent third party involved?
- Are there CMPD officers on the ground?
- The safety of the suspect.
The bottom line is saving as many lives as possible, Johnson said.
VIDEO: SWAT standoff ends at east Charlotte pawn shop
©2023 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
