On October 24, 2018 at 2:38 p.m., officers assigned to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Steele Creek Division responded to 11130 S. Tryon Street regarding an armed suspect threatening a victim at a voting location. The report number for this incident is 20181024-1438-02.
When the officer arrived, the victim, an adult African-American man, stated that he was working at the voting location when he observed the suspect in the parking lot with a camera photographing or recording the polling location. The victim approached the suspect, at which time the suspect began directing racial slurs towards the victim. The victim stated that the suspect threatened to assault him before lifting his shirt and displaying a handgun which was in a holster on the suspect’s belt. The victim advised that the suspect never assaulted him or attempted to remove the handgun from the holster.
A team of officers and detectives was put together to investigate this incident and they were able to quickly identify all three of these individuals. At approximately 9:15 p.m., the suspect was located and arrested without incident. The suspect was carrying a BB gun in a holster which was located and seized as evidence. This suspect is currently being interviewed. Once the interview has been completed and he has been formally charged at the Magistrate’s office, his name will be released. CMPD is communicating with the FBI to determine whether federal charges may be appropriate.
Two other individual were with the suspect. They have been identified but have not been charged after the officers determined that they did not violate any laws.
The Department is conducting scheduled zone checks at all polling locations though the election on November 6th.
