CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A warrant service call at an east Charlotte home Monday turned deadly, claiming the lives of four law enforcement officers and wounding five others others.
Members of a U.S. Marshals Regional Task Force - which included local, regional, federal and state officers - tried to serve a warrant on Terry Clark Hughes Jr. that afternoon for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. However, law enforcement agencies said Hughes fired at the team trying to arrest him at a home along Galway Drive.
A gunfire exchange followed, which led to Hughes' death. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings would later confirm eight officers were shot, with four of them passing away. Of the remaining four wounded, one law enforcement officer was still fighting for their life as of Tuesday. Another officer from Statesville on the regional task force was also hurt.
The aftermath of the chaos in east Charlotte has sent ripples through the law enforcement community, both locally and beyond. WCNC Charlotte anchor Sarah French spoke with M. Quentin Williams during Tuesday's morning newscast about the impact of the scene.
"This is very challenging. It's painful -- it's painful for the community, it's painful for the agency, it's painful for law enforcement in general, across the nation," he said. "This is a big deal. It doesn't happen too often."
Williams is a former FBI agent and federal prosecutor, who has also founded the nonprofit known as Dedication To Community, which aims to help build community bridges with law enforcement. He said Monday's tragedy affects more people than most may realize.
"You think about the families involved," he said. "It's not just the officers and agents, it's the extended families of all of these individuals."
Williams also dug into the mechanics of the investigation moving forward. While CMPD will be the lead agency, he expects federal and local authorities to collaborate on it.
"I would assume that the Marshals would play a large role in that investigation," he said.
Williams also said this investigation would be quite different because so many officers were involved.
"They're going to piece the storyline from beginning to end," he said. "It's going to be like many investigations in that way. The challenge is that you have eight agents and officers who were shot, so it's going to take a lot of resources to find out exactly what happened with each one of those officers. That's the challenge: you have eight similar, yet different, stories that led up to this event."
Editor's Note: The Statesville Police Department announced Tuesday evening one of its own officers was among those hurt during the incident. This means five officers were hurt Monday.
If your loved one was impacted by this incident, WCNC Charlotte hopes to make this process less painful with our More Than A Number initiative. With your help, we want to share who your loved one was with our viewers in North Carolina and South Carolina. When you're ready, fill out the form below or send us photos, memories and other details about them to desk@wcnc.com.