Search for suspect continues after police officer injured in overnight NoDa shooting

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – The search for the gunman continues after an overnight shooting in the North Davidson Street area left one Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer injured.

CMPD did announce they located a person of interest from the incident Tuesday afternoon, however, no arrests have been made at this time regarding the officer who was shot.

According to CMPD, the shooting happened outside of The Blind Pig in NoDa around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Investigators say officers were responding to a call about an issue involving a patron at the popular neighborhood bar, located on East 36th Street, right around closing time.

When officers got there someone began firing shots into the bar and outside of it, hitting an officer in the upper leg.

“Shots were fired outside of the building and into the building as well,” CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings said. “We don’t know if every one of those shots were fired at officers but at least one was fired at the officer while he was on the scene.”

Police are not sure if the person causing the disturbance in the bar was the shooter, but they would like to speak to that person to figure that out.

Mick Smith was bartending at the time of the shooting.

“A patron didn’t want to leave at the end of the night and we escorted him out and he shot at the door,” Smith said.

At this point in the investigation, Chief Jennings said there is no indication that officers returned fire. He added they are still gathering evidence and working to figure out who pulled the trigger.

CMPD says they have identified and located a person of interest but no arrests have been made at this time.

“My hope is that we will be able to hold the shooter accountable for shooting our officer,” Jennings said.

Jennings says the officer was taken to the hospital and was in stable condition, and is expected to be released later Tuesday.

The chief also said this is the third time in a week where CMPD officers have faced gunfire during a call for service.

One witness to the overnight shooting in NoDa said he was closing down a bar he was working at when he heard the shots.

“All of a sudden we hear pops around the corner and then two police officers ran up. One was carrying a rifle, one had a handgun and they asked where it came from,” witness Andrew Green said.

He also said it was scary, but not shocking.

“I don’t want to say it’s common,” he said. “It’s not super uncommon. You don’t expect it to happen.”

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call (704) 432-TIPS and speak directly to a detective.

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