CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The suspect was the lone gunman in the April 29 shooting in Charlotte that left four law enforcement officers dead and injured four others, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said during a Friday evening news conference.
Originally, police believed there was more than one shooter, because they were fired at through two, second-floor windows.
CMPD Deputy Chief Tonya Arrington said the suspect was found with two guns but only fired an assault rifle during the 17-minute shootout with police and other officers.
"That's an eternity. They were in a gun battle," Arrington said.
Arrington also said the wounded officers were not hit with "friendly fire."
"Officers were not shot, nor shot at by fellow officers. Not blue-on-blue," Arrington said.
The CMPD also disclosed that the suspect shot at police through two upstairs windows at the house on Galway Drive in Charlotte. The home is in a typically quiet neighborhood, not far from Uptown.
CMPD said there were 1,100 videos and over 10,000 pieces of evidence and stressed that the case is still under investigation. The house on Galway Drive had damage after the incident, and Arrington explained that it was caused by a SWAT team. The team went in when the shooting was over to make sure there was not another armed suspect.
Joshua Eyer and three members of a U.S. Marshals Service task force, Tommy Weeks, Sam Poloche and Alden Elliott, were shot while trying to arrest a wanted man April 29. The city has mourned the officers since the shooting with four funerals and a memorial service.
The April 29 shooting was the deadliest attack on law enforcement in the United States since 2016, according to The Associated Press.
Police Chief Johnny Jennings said officers were still coming to grips with what he called “the most tragic time in the history of our department.”
“Some are doing better than others ... but the bottom line is we’re continuing to do the work,” he said.
The attack happened as members of a joint U.S. Marshals Service task force tried to serve a warrant on a suspect for possession of a firearm by a felon. The man began shooting at officers in front of the home, and he was also killed in the shootout.
A task force made up of officers from different agencies had arrived in the residential neighborhood to try to capture Terry Clark Hughes Jr., 39, who was wanted for possession of a firearm by an ex-felon and fleeing to elude in Lincoln County, North Carolina. Hughes was killed in the shootout.
His criminal record in North Carolina goes back more than a decade. It includes prison time and convictions for breaking and entering, reckless driving, eluding arrest and illegally possessing a gun as a former felon, according to state records.
“This was a shooter that was intent on trying to kill officers that day,” Arrington said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.