Sandy MaloneRaleigh, NC – Police fatally shot a man who showed up at the police station on Saturday and began hurling flaming Molotov cocktails at patrol vehicles and officers.
The incident began at about 1:30 p.m. on May 7 in the parking lot of the Raleigh Police Department’s Southeast District Headquarters located in the 2800-block of Rock Quarry Road, near New Birch Drive, WTVD reported.
That was when an officer spotted a man in the parking lot setting police vehicles on fire with incendiary devices.
The officer called for backup, but even after more officers arrived on the scene, the man continued to wreak havoc, WTVD reported.
Officers ordered the man to stop but he continued to lob the flaming glass bottles at police vehicles in the parking lot, The News & Observer reported.
Then he turned and lobbed a Molotov cocktail at a Raleigh police officer, according to officials.
Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said that one of the Molotov cocktails thrown by the suspect landed dangerously close to an officer, The News & Observer reported.
Chief Patterson said that was when four officers opened fire on the man and he was shot “multiple times,” WTVD reported.
The police chief said the officers dragged the wounded suspect away from the burning vehicles after he was shot and attempted to perform CPR until an ambulance arrived, The News & Observer reported.
The suspect was transported to the hospital where he died from his wounds.
His name has not yet been released to the public but family members have been notified, WTVD reported.
Chief Patterson said the entire incident was captured on surveillance cameras in the parking lot as well as on the officers’ bodycams.
She said she planned to file a request to have the videos released to the public as soon as possible, WTVD reported.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was assisting the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) with the investigation of the incident, The News & Observer reported.
Holly Matkin
