CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A young mother who lives in an east Charlotte home says she woke up around 2:30 Saturday morning to a man pounding “violently” on her front door. In a 911 call to police, the dispatcher can be heard asking, “Do you know this person?” Sarah McCartney replies, “No, he’s a black man. I opened the door and thought it was my husband! I just woke up. I was asleep!”
McCartney spoke only to WCCB about what happened that morning. She told WCCB News @ Ten anchor Morgan Fogarty that Jonathan Ferrell continued to pound on her door, never said he was hurt and demanded she turn off her home alarm. On the 911 call, McCartney is heard saying to the dispatcher, “He’s yelling. He’s yelling to turn off the alarm.” And then to Ferrell, “No! I’m calling the police, I’m on the phone with 911!”
Several minutes later, three Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers arrived on scene. The department says Ferrell advanced on them. Officer Randall Kerrick fired 12 shots, hitting Ferrell 10 times.
Dash cam video captured the exchange. It has not been made public, but Ferrell family attorney Chris Chestnut viewed it. He says Ferrell approached police “harmlessly.” “We can’t determine what he (Ferrell) says, if anything, and then he moves forward and the next thing we hear are shots. Bop. Bop. Bop. Bop. Pause. Bop. Bop. Bop. Bop. Bop. Bop. Pause. Then there are two more shots. Bop. Bop.”
Kerrick is charged with voluntary manslaughter and is out of jail on a $50,000 bond. Chestnut says, “This is cold blooded murder. This is not what the officer was trained to do. He’s a disgrace to law enforcement, he’s a disgrace to the city.”
Kerrick’s attorneys made an appearance in court Tuesday on his behalf. Michael Greene told reporters, “We are confident that at the resolution of this case, it will be found that Officer Kerrick’s actions were justified on the night in question.”
In court Tuesday, a judge set a date for another appearance. Kerrick’s attorneys declined to answer whether their client would plead not guilty.
Ferrell had been in a car accident the evening of the shooting. He drove off Reedy Creek Road, and crashed into trees a few yards away from Sarah McCartney’s house. He apparently climbed out the back window of his car. If he had anything in his system that night, it’ll take several weeks to find out.
