A Fayetteville police officer shot and killed a woman who was having a breakdown and threatening to hurt herself, authorities said Saturday morning.
Fayetteville Assistant Police Chief James Nolette said officers were dispatched around 9 p.m. Friday to the 2300 block of Colgate Drive, a residential area, after someone reported four men trying to break into his home.
Once on the scene, officers said they couldn’t find any evidence that a home invasion had taken place, according to Nolette.
Nolette said officers interviewed the mother at the home of the reported robbery and found inconsistencies in her story. After officers were on the scene for about 30 minutes, they were able to determine that she was in a mental health crisis, Nolette said.
After talking with the woman for about 30 minutes, the woman pulled out a firearm and threatened to harm herself. Along with the woman were her grandmother and her daughter, who were “in danger,” according to Nolette.
Nolette said officers tried “relentlessly” to get the woman to put down the gun.
“The officers, within feet of this young lady at the time, while trying to de-escalate, trying to dissuade her, spent about an hour in this situation very close to her, trying to get her to hand over the weapon,” Nolette said. she said she.
He eventually agreed to seek help at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, Nolette said.
“She is still armed with a gun all this time,” he emphasized during the early morning press conference.
After he agreed to put down the gun and get help, officers tried to take it from him. That’s when the officers began to struggle with the woman, according to Nolette, and one officer shot her.
Nolette did not provide any clear details during the press conference on what exactly happened during the match. Fayetteville police did not say if any officers were hurt during the fight.
The officer who fired his weapon was placed on administrative leave and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation was called to investigate the shooting, which is standard for all officer-involved shootings.
It’s unclear how many times the woman was shot, if she was armed while being shot, or if she was pointing a gun at the officer during the struggle.
“This is a tragic situation,” Nolette said.
Both officers involved were wearing body cameras.
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