CMPD officer kills man who had a gun outside Coyote Joe’s late Saturday, police say
Editor’s note: A previous headline for this story incorrectly stated an off-duty officer fatally shot a man with a gun at Coyote Joe’s. It is not yet known the status of the officer who had shot the man.
Charlotte police shot and killed a man who had a gun outside Coyote Joe’s, a popular country nightclub off Wilkinson Boulevard, on Saturday, authorities said.
The man may have been trying to harm himself, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Chief Johnny Jennings told WSOC, the Charlotte Observer’s news partner.
An off-duty officer working at the club reported a man with a gun to CMPD officers, who arrived at about 11 p.m. “An officer perceived an imminent deadly threat and discharged his firearm, striking the subject,” CMPD said in a news release.
The man died at the scene.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and CMPD’s Internal Affairs are independently investigating the shooting, which is standard when an officer is involved in a deadly shooting.
Also under CMPD protocol, the officer who discharged their weapon is being placed on paid administrative leave. CMPD did not identify the officer or the person they killed.
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No officers were hurt in the incident, but one officer was taken to the hospital as a precaution to check his vital signs, Jennings told WSOC.
Coyote Joe’s was closed Sunday morning. Workers did not immediately return phone calls from The Charlotte Observer.
Charlotte area police shootings
There have been prior incidents this year of deadly force by area police.
In April, CMPD officers were involved in a shootout that left four law enforcement officers dead and four others hospitalized more injured. In one of the nation’s most devastating attacks on law enforcement in generations, a suspect fired a high-powered rifle at officers in east Charlotte. Officers fatally shot that suspect, who died at the scene, after he shot at them.
In May, a Pineville sergeant fatally shot an unarmed man after a shoplifting call. Family said the man, Dennis Bodden, was suffering a mental health crisis
Gaston County police earlier this month shot and killed a man who had a machete. He’d been stabbing himself in the arm, his wife told 911 dispatchers. Police shot him when he “advanced” toward officers, Chief Stephen Zill said.
This is a developing story
This story was originally published December 29, 2024 at 9:48 AM with the headline "CMPD officer kills man who had a gun outside Coyote Joe’s late Saturday, police say."
