CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are not pursuing criminal charges against the woman who shot her husband to death in January 2018.
[PAST COVERAGE: Mecklenburg County deputy was drinking, threatened wife before shot, killed]
The Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office concluded that they could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Rataba Hawkins did not act in self-defense.
On Jan. 15, 2018, Rataba Hawkins called 911 and told a dispatcher, “My husband reached for the knife, and I shot him,” according to court documents.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers went to the home on Ashley Meadow Drive in northeast Charlotte and found James Hawkins, 35, unresponsive.
James Hawkins was a deputy for the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office.
There was a butcher’s knife, a pistol and a plate of food on the kitchen floor when authorities arrived.
James Hawkins died at the scene from a gunshot wound to the neck. The medical examiner said another round went through his hand and into his abdomen.
Rataba Hawkins is also a deputy and was put on administrative leave at the time.
The couple had a history of domestic-related issues.
Someone is justified in using deadly force if they believe that it is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm, according to North Carolina law.
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