Officer-Involved Shooting Leaves Suspect in Hospital

KANNAPOLIS, NC — A shoot-out inside a local motel. Officers return fire after they say a wanted man shot at them. That suspect is now in the hospital.

The shooting happened on the 3rd floor of the motel. Now, everyone staying at the Inn Town Suites on all other floors have been let back in. Police are working with emergency management to make accommodations for those displaced.

Things had calmed down from what was a massive police presence earlier in the day.

“We were on the other side when people came out of the hotel screaming, ‘Oh I heard the gunshots! I heard the gunshots!’ And that’s when everyone was sporadic running from the hotel,” said Kannapolis resident Rob Stanton.

Stanton lives up the street from the Inn Town Suites on Cloverleaf Parkway in Kannapolis. He says he was driving to his son’s talent show when he saw the commotion and stopped to take video.

Kannapolis Police Chief Woody Chavis says police received a call saying there was a man wanted on probation violations out of Rowan County staying at the motel. When officers arrived, there was a brief struggle and then shots were fired between the officer and suspect.

The suspect was shot and taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. No officers were hurt.

Police evacuated everyone from the Inn Town Suites and the SBI was called to the scene.

“When you have a situation like this in a hotel, there’s so many people involved,” said Chief Chavis. “There’s potential witnesses and evidence everywhere. That’s the reason why the SBI is here; we cornered off the hotel for them. We wanted to make sure we identified all witnesses and secured the crime scene for them.”

Chief Chavis says the SBI has officially taken over the investigation. The officer who fired the shot has been with the department about four years, and is not yet on any administrative leave.