CMPD

Sean Clark (left) and Jeffrey Shelton

A suspect has been arrested after after two officers were shot and killed after responding to a disturbance call at an east Charlotte apartment complex Saturday night, police said.

Demetrius Montgomery was arrested Sunday night charged with two counts of first degree murder. Montgomery has a lengthy arrest history in Mecklenburg County dating back to January of 1998, according to police.

The shooting

Sean Clark, 34, and Jeffrey Shelton, 35, both died from gunshot wounds after a shooting at Timber Ridge Apartments at about 11:15 p.m.

The officers were struggling with the suspect in the apartment parking lot when they were shot, CMPD Police Chief Darrel Stephens said. Both were shot by weapons that were not their own. Both officers still had their guns in their holsters, Stephens said.

The officers responded to the disturbance call at 10:26 p.m., but it’s not yet clear what happened between that time and the 11:15 p.m. shooting.

The officers were transported to Carolinas Medical Center, where Clark died at 12:14 a.m. Sunday, and Shelton died at 4:06 a.m.

The suspect

During a Sunday evening news conference police said they do not believe the suspect was involved in the initial disturbance call.

Police were able to identify a person as a suspect with help from the community, Stephens said. Investigators had been talking to the person for “a little while” and later were able to call him a suspect as they learned more details. Police issued a statement around 8 p.m. Sunday that Demetrius Montgomery had been arrested and charged with two counts of first degree murder.

Stephens said he did not know if the officers were wearing bulletproof vests, but said even if they were it would not have made a difference.

About the officers

Clark had been with the department for just over a year; Shelton was hired in 2001. Both were assigned to the North Tryon Division. Clark and Shelton were not partners. It is the practice of the CMPD that two officers respond to a disturbance call and Stephens said it’s likely Clark and Shelton met up on their way to the call.

Both Clark and Shelton were married. Clark, a West Mecklenburg High School graduate, has a 2-year-old son and his wife is six months pregnant.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Officer Bob Fey, CMPD spokesman. “Just hearing a call like that going out over the air… I happen to be working off duty tonight -- it’s not my scheduled day to be working, but just hearing the dispatcher say those words over the air, ‘We have two officers shot in the North Tryon Division,’ it just makes your heart skip a beat.”

The crime scene

At the crime scene Sunday morning, officers were conducting a grid search in a wooded area behind the apartment complex, looking for evidence.

Detectives on the scene said they’ve taken 30 witnesses from there to the department Uptown for questioning, and all are cooperating. Based on those interviews, police began searching at the Brittany Apartment Homes across the street from Timber Ridge.

A SWAT team, K-9 units and a police helicopter are also assisting in the search.

The last time a CMPD officer was shot in the line of duty was about one year ago. Officer Kayvan Hazrati was shot in the head in April 2006 during a standoff with a rape suspect in the University area. He survived, and suspect Christopher Ellerbe was arrested.

But the last fatal police shooting of this magnitude was more than 13 years ago. Officers Andy Nobles, 26, and John Burnette, 25, were killed Oct. 5, 1993, after chasing a suspected car thief, according to CMPD. During a struggle, the suspect grabbed one of the officers’ weapons and shot both of them.

Police said they struggled Sunday to deal with their grief while also trying to find the people who shot their fellow officers.

“We’re heartbroken. These are family members that we lost overnight,” said CMPD Maj. Harold Medlock, who trained both officers in the academy. “As bad as that hurts, we still have a job to do… It’s an amazing thing to see these young officers have to deal with their grief and also remain professional.”

Timeline

Saturday:

•10:26 p.m.: Officer Sean Clark, 34 and Officer Jerry Shelton, 35, respond to a disturbance call at Timber Ridge apartments off Barrington Drive near Milton Road. It’s possible that a second, higher priority police call may have come in and they might have left to take care of that call, police spokeswoman Julie Hill said. They then would have returned to the Timber Ridge complex where things escalated.

•About 11:15 p.m.: Both officers are shot while struggling with a person in the parking lot of the apartment complex, police said. They never got to the initial disturbance call, Hill said.

•11:21 p.m.: Medic, Mecklenburg County’s emergency medical service, and the Charlotte Fire Department are called about a shooting there. They are told by Charlotte-Mecklenburg police one officer has been shot.

•11:25 p.m.: Charlotte firefighters are the first to arrive. They learn en route a second officer was shot. Ambulances arrive soon afterward, but must stay several blocks away until police can make sure it’s safe for them to enter, said Medic spokesman John Deem.

•11:29 p.m.: Emergency vehicles are allowed onto the scene to help the officers.

•11:30 p.m.: Medical workers make first contact with the officers.

•11:50 p.m.: Both officers have arrived at the hospital by ambulance.

Sunday:

•12:14 a.m.: Clark dies in the emergency department at Carolinas Medical Center.

•4:06 a.m.: Shelton dies at the hospital.

•5:30 a.m.: Police Chief Darrel Stephens addresses the media.

•8:40 a.m.: Police lead a witness, who appears to be a teenager, from one of the apartment buildings. He covers his head with a hoodie.

•9 a.m.: Officers conduct a search for shell casings at the apartment complex. More than a dozen officers canvassed the neighborhood in the drizzle Sunday morning, using metal detectors to search for shell casings in bushes and trees after using batons to push away plants and litter.

•5 p.m.: Police announce they have a suspect in custody but have not pressed charges against him. They said they are continuing to question him tonight.

Our news partners at the Charlotte Observer contributed the timeline used in this report.