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Police fatally shoot suspect after responding to mental health call

Gaston Gazette - 3/2/2019

March 02-- Mar. 2--An early Saturday morning 911 call requesting an ambulance for a person suffering mental health issues ended with an officer-involved shooting that left a man dead.

Mount Holly Police were called to 304 Dutchmans Meadow Drive around 6:45 a.m. Saturday in reference to a domestic disturbance, according to Mount Holly Police Chief Don Roper.

"At some point during the investigation a fire started in the upstairs bedroom of this home," Roper said. "A short time later there was contact between a male subject and officers during which the subject was shot and died at the scene. There were no further injuries involved."

The shooting took place around 7:34 a.m. Saturday outside on the 100 block of Barrington Drive, a street adjacent to the back of the Dutchmans Meadow Drive home.

The person who was shot reportedly leapt from the burning home while carrying a sword.

Neighbor Randy Goldberg was already awake when he heard the sirens of fire trucks come onto his usually quiet street where he has lived more than a dozen years.

"It's a good neighborhood," Goldberg said. "We've never seen the police come through the neighborhood like this."

Goldberg said he does not believe the person who was killed lived at the home, but rather was a relative of the couple who lived there. He said the couple who lived at the home were good neighbors who mostly kept to themselves.

He said his heart went out to the people who lived there and apparently lost a loved one.

Roper declined to name the person who was fatally shot or the officer or officers involved. He said the Mount Holly Fire Department was able to get the fire at the home under control in a short period of time.

Officers involved in a fatal shooting are almost always placed on paid administrative leave at least during the internal investigation.

Roper said Gaston County Police had been called in to assist and that the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation would lead the inquiry into the shooting.

The neighborhood where the shooting took place is located off Sandy Ford Road, off of N.C. 273, north of the Freightliner truck plant. The neighborhood of one- and two-story homes has a community pool nearby.

At 8:30 that morning, many neighbors seemed to be going about their business, whether that be walking their dog on a leash or just taking a walk themselves.

Some of them walked near the 300 block of Dutchmans Meadow Drive and the 100 block of Barrington Drive, both cut off by police cars and yellow crime scene tape.

You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin.

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(c)2019 Gaston Gazette, Gastonia, N.C.

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