CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) -
A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer has been cleared in a shooting that left a man dead in northwest Charlotte.
The shooting happened along Crestview Drive in northwest Charlotte.
Officers say Michael Deangelo Laney was seen driving a scooter along Beatties Ford Road on July 2nd by officers in the Metro division.
The scooter matched the description of one used in an armed robbery nearly a week earlier, where the victim was shot in the back with a shotgun. After Laney's death, the victim in this robbery identified Laney as the man who robbed and shot him.
When officers tried to stop Laney, he reportedly took off and lead officers on a chase to his home along Crestview Drive.
That's when Laney began to scuffle with officers and pulled out a gun, police say.
Officer Anthony Holzhauer pulled out his gun and shot Laney. Laney died on the scene.
The case was investigated by Mecklenburg County District Attorney Andrew Murray.
In a letter sent to CMPD Police Chief Rodney Monroe on Monday, Murray said that there was "no evidence that Officer Holzhauer acted unlawfully" in the case.
According to Murray's letter, Holzhauer and another officer are overheard on his portable microphone struggling with Laney. The other officer is heard yelling "he's got something in his waistband" and yelled at least three times "he's got a gun."
The officer continued to struggle with Laney, and was not able to control his hangs.
That's when Holzhauer fired one shot, killing Laney.
The officers were separately interviewed by investigators, Murray stated in his letter, and their accounts of the evening were consistent with one another.
Laney's girlfriend, who witnessed the incident, told investigators that Laney was fighting with officers and that she heard officers tell him to stop resisting. She told investigators that she heard one of the officers yell "he's pulling something out of his pocket."
Investigators say they found a loaded handgun at the scene.
"The consistent, believable evidence is that the suspect aggressively resisted apprehension and reached for a loaded handgun while fighting the officers," Murray stated in his letter. "Therefore, the use of deadly force was justified under North Carolina law."
Neither Holzhauer or the other officer will have charges filed against them by the District Attorney's Office.
"It's unfortunate that we continue to confront individuals that seek to arm themselves and which ultimately in some cases results in deadly force. It got to a point the officer felt if he lost control of that situation - he or his partner could very well have been shot," Police Chief Rodney Monroe said shortly after the shooting.
"This is nothing anyone takes pride or glory in. A life was lost."
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