Charlotte, North Carolina – A new timeline released on Friday shows the killings of four police officers over a 20-minute period while executing a search warrant in Charlotte, North Carolina, on April 29.
The shooter, Terry Hughes Jr., 39, killed Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas M. Weeks Jr., North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections (NCDAC) officers Sam Poroche and William “Alden” Elliott, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) officer Joshua Eyer. Four other officers were wounded in the line of duty that Monday.
“This is the deadliest attack on police in Charlotte history. It’s one of the deadliest single attacks on police in the country,” Daniel Redford, president of the Charlotte Fraternal Order of Police chapter, told Fox News Digital. “We’ve had to say goodbye to four heroes. If there’s anything we can learn from this incident, as with so many others, to prevent this from ever happening again and to save the lives of officers and first responders, that’s the only lesson we can learn.”
Below is an updated timeline of the shootout released by Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer B. Meriwether III as part of the investigation into the 23 officers who returned fire on Hughes on April 29.
April 29th, 1pm – 1:30pm
Between 1 and 1:30 p.m. that Monday, members of the U.S. Marshals Service Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force arrived at Hughes’ home on Galway Drive in East Charlotte to execute an arrest warrant for felon in possession of a firearm.
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(L-R) U.S. Deputy Marshal Thomas M. Weeks, Investigator William “Alden” Elliott, Trooper Joshua Eyer, and Investigator Samuel “Sam” Poroche were killed in a police shootout on Monday, April 29, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina. (US Marshals Service via Associated Press/NCDAC/Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department/Shawn Rayford via Associated Press/Getty Images)
“These task force officers who showed up at this house that morning have probably done this 100 times,” Redford said of the situation the officers thought they would face that afternoon. “The same charges against the person they were going to arrest. They’ve done this 100 to 200 times before, and it worked. You have to be aware of the danger you’re in, but you can’t be constantly thinking about the danger, because if that’s all you’re thinking about, you’re not going to be able to think clearly.”
“We’ve conducted between 100 and 200 of these so far, and they’ve all been successful.”
When officers arrived at Hughes’ home, located in a residential area near a public park, he was standing on the threshold of the home’s side entrance.
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Charlotte residents were shocked by the April 29, 2024, shootout that left four officers dead. (Charlotte resident)
Meriwether wrote in a letter outlining the investigation to CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings that Hughes, a repeat offender, fled inside the house when officers arrived and task force members announced their presence over a bullhorn and demanded that Hughes leave the residence, after which Hughes opened fire with a “Radical Arms RF-15 rifle.”
According to North Carolina public records, Hughes had previously been charged in multiple counties with evading arrest, robbery, possession and manufacture of marijuana, driving with an expired registration and driving while intoxicated.
Hughes “then fired shots from a second-floor side window, then alternated between firing shots from the rear window and a side window.”
More than 100 shots were fired in the deadly Charlotte shootout. (Audrey Conklin/Fox News Digital)
Weeks and Poroche were hit while hiding behind a tree in Hughes’ backyard as Hughes fired from a second-story window, after which Elliott and another task force member were shot “at the fence line on the west side of the home.”
1:33pm
Eyer, the only CMPD officer on the NCDAC task force, was standing outside Hughes’ home and told CMPD dispatchers that shots had gone off and an officer had gone down, Meriwether said. Eyer had access to a CMPD radio channel that was not monitored by members of the task force.
Charlotte shooting: US Marshals task force executes warrant, 4 officers killed, 4 injured
On April 29, 2024, Charlotte Police responded to a deadly shootout on Galway Drive. (Charlotte resident)
1:35pm
Just two minutes after Iyer reported the shooting and the injured officer, the first of hundreds of CMPD officers arrived on the scene and began assisting the downed officer.
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“Officer Eyer and numerous other CMPD officers approached the rear of the deceased’s residence through the backyard of an adjacent home, searching for a safe route to reach the three fallen officers,” Meriwether wrote.
1:46pm
About 10 minutes after calling for backup, Eyer and other officers went to a treeline in Hughes’ backyard, where Weeks was struck by gunfire. Eyer and Poroche “were hiding behind this tree when Hughes fired more shots,” Meriwether said.
The deadly shootout happened on April 29, 2024, at a home on Galway Drive in East Charlotte. (Audrey Conklin/Fox News Digital)
“Three additional CMPD officers were shot while taking cover in various locations behind the home,” the district attorney wrote.
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1:50pm
About 20 minutes after the shooting began, Hughes jumped from a second-story front window of the home, still clutching his AR-15.
“At 1:50:28 p.m., officers at the front of the residence communicated over the CMPD radio that a deceased person had fallen,” Meriwether said. “Officers at the rear of the residence had received this information, but officers at the side of the residence had not. Officers in the back yard then began evacuating TFO Poloche and Officer Eyer.”
A home where four police officers were killed remains destroyed, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina. The officers were killed the previous day in a shootout while attempting to execute a search warrant. (Audrey Conklin/Fox News Digital)
According to prosecutors, officers at the residence, who did not receive a call that the shooter had gone down, “approached the injured TFO on the fence and attempted to render aid.”
At 1:50:42 p.m., as authorities were moving to the injured officer, another officer noticed movement at the second-story window where Hughes was firing and fired one shot into the window.
Redford, the local FOP president, said having officers from so many different agencies respond to a large-scale attack unintentionally creates communication problems.
“In these situations, communication is one of the most important things because that’s how you communicate the danger.”
“That way we can communicate where to go and where not to go,” Redford explained. “What we see all the time in these large scale incidents is that as officers respond, they inadvertently block roads. If you have 100 police cars parked on the side of the road, it makes it difficult for ambulances, firefighters and others to get through.”
Kelly Weeks (center), widow of slain Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Weeks Jr., looks out at mourners at her husband’s memorial service at Bojangles’ Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina, Monday, May 6, 2024. (Jeff Sinner/Charlotte Observer via The Associated Press)
1:50pm – 2:00pm
“For the next 10 minutes, officers located behind the residence provided covering fire into the rear windows of the home as they evacuated. [Poloche, Eyer and Weeks]”Officers on the side of the residence provided covering fire as they evacuated the injured Special Forces officer,” Meriwether said. At 1:59 p.m., CMPD officers used an armored vehicle to move to the side fence line and [Elliott]”
2:39pm
Hughes’ girlfriend called 911 to report she was hiding in a closet in Hughes’ residence with her 17-year-old daughter.
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Officers comfort each other during a memorial service for fallen CMPD Officer Joshua Eyer at First Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Image direct from Fox News Digital)
2:20pm – 8:25pm
Elliott, Poroche, Weeks and Iyer were all pronounced dead at the hospital after a six-hour journey.
After completing his investigation into the shootout, Judge Meriwether ultimately cleared the officers who returned fire on Hughes of any wrongdoing, saying, “There is no doubt that the 23 officers who returned fire during this lengthy gunfight did so in defense of themselves and their fellow officers.”
“This incident represents one of the deadliest attacks on law enforcement in the history of our community,” the district attorney wrote in the conclusion of his letter to Jennings. “As is difficult to imagine, the outcome may have been even more tragic had law enforcement officers not responded to an imminent deadly threat with lethal force. Accordingly, this investigation determines that the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers that led to the death of Terry Hughes Jr. was justified as a matter of law.”
Officers comfort one another during a memorial service for fallen CMPD Officer Joshua Eyer at First Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Image direct from Fox News Digital)
Jennings also responded to the district attorney’s findings in a statement on Aug. 1, saying the four officers who died “demonstrated the height of bravery” when they took part in the deadliest attack on a police officer in Charlotte’s history on April 29.
“We will never forget the ultimate sacrifice they made for the safety of our community,” Jennings said. “We are extremely grateful to the dedicated members of the Homicide Unit, Crime Lab and Crime Scene Investigations, as well as the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office, who carefully and meticulously reviewed approximately 1,100 videos and examined approximately 10,000 pieces of evidence.”
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Redford noted that many of the officers who responded to the April 29 shootout were off duty that day.
“Many of the officers who were on duty that day had the day off and were home somewhere with their families, but they saw what was going on and they put on their uniforms, got in their cars and headed to work. They knew they didn’t have to, but they went out because they knew how important this case was. I think that shows their commitment to law enforcement,” Redford said. “The men and women who serve in this profession are so dedicated to keeping each other and our communities safe.”
