DA Releases Letter Clearing CMPD Officer Who Killed Woman
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CHARLOTTE, NC — The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer who shot and killed a 20-year-old woman in North Charlotte will not face criminal charges.
It’s the officer’s third on-the-job shooting in the last two and a half years.
Thursday, District Attorney Andrew Murray released his investigative report that cleared Officer Anthony Holzhauer of any criminal charges after he shot a woman he says lunged at him with a knife.
The report is full of witness statements and photo evidence explaining why the DA won’t charge Officer Holzhauer for killing Janisha Fonville.
Photo evidence showed the kitchen knife Office Holzhauer says Fonville had in her hand when he killed her.
“We should be able to feel protected,” said Sohvohnya Hughes. “We’re scared of them because we never know what they going to do.”
Controversy over that weapon continues, even with the release of the DA’s report that found Officer Holzhauer was justified in killing Fonville “…in the face of what he reasonable (sic) perceived to be an attack from a knife-wielding subject.”
The key witness, Korneisha Banks, spoke to WCCB Charlotte after seeing the officer shoot her girlfriend while responding to a domestic disturbance between the couple on February 18. The DA provided in his report her police statement.
When investigators asked her if Fonville was holding a knife when the officer killed her, she said in part, “I don’t remember seeing it in her hands… But I do know she had it in her pants…”
The DA wrote in his findings that Banks provided investigators with extensive detail about Fonville’s recent state of mind and prior acts. Specifically, the DA says, she told investigators that Fonville “…pulled knives on her in the past, charged after her with knives…”
The DA wrote in his report that the second officer in the room couldn’t see the knife in Fonville’s hand when he says she lunged at Officer Holzhauer. However the DA noted, “…he did see the knife flipping through the air…” after Officer Holzhauer fired shots.
Photo evidence shows the bullet-shattered handle.
Holzhauer’s statement in the DA’s report was detailed: “I could see the knife… she raised her hand up above her head and then lunged at me… I stuck my right hand out to attempt to deflect her body… When her body was within half a foot of me, I fired.”
“They didn’t try to prevent her death. He didn’t try,” said Hughes.
The community is adamant the officer should have thought to use a taser first, considering this is the third on-the-job shooting he’s been a part of in two and a half years, the second a deadly one.
"At the end of the day, as a community, we’re talking about life. Whether it’s the fear of something tragic happening to you or something actually happening to you, those are the dynamics we have to continue to try to work through in order for us to better understand and trust one another,” Chief Rodney Monroe said Thursday.
Chief Monroe says CMPD is still conducting a separate investigation to review police and procedure as well as training to see what the department can do to prevent these situations in the future.
