A North Carolina police officer shot and killed a man on Saturday who may have been seeking help after a car wreck.
Police responded to a 911 call early Saturday morning from a woman who said that a mysterious man was trying to get into her home in northeast Charlotte. The incident, which reportedly happened around 2:30 a.m., occurred when a woman heard knocking on her door and opened it thinking it was her husband returning from work.
When she realized that it was not her husband, she called police and told them that someone had been knocking on her door repeatedly. She suspected that the man outside was trying to rob her.
Officers soon arrived and found 24-year-old Johnathan A. Ferrell, who matched the woman’s description, near the house.
The Charlotte Observer reports that police then surrounded Ferrell, who “immediately charged” at them. One officer fired his Taser at Ferrell, but he kept running at them.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Randall Kerrick then pulled out his weapon and fired, hitting Ferrell several times before he went down.
Ferrell, who was unarmed, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police reportedly found a wrecked car near the house, which led them to believe that Ferrell had merely been seeking help when he had gone to the woman’s house.
"It was a pretty serious accident," said Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Monroe in an official statement.
The crash was so severe that Ferrell was believed to have kicked his way out of the back window in order to escape and seek help.
Kerrick has been charged with voluntary manslaughter following the shooting and he is currently in police custody. In another statement, local police said that they had found the shooting of Ferrell “excessive” after an investigation.
All three officers who were at the scene have been placed on paid administrative leave after Saturday’s shooting.