SandyMaloneCharlotte, NC – Police have released dramatic bodycam video footage of officers who rescued a pregnant woman being held hostage by shooting her captor in September of 2017, along with the announcement that the shooting had been ruled justified (video below).
The incident began at about 10 p.m. on Sept. 26, 2017 when the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) received a 911 call about a man who had forced his way into a home on Holly Street, WSOC-TV reported.
When police arrived on the scene, they found Jonathan Autry holding a pregnant woman at gunpoint.
“He was holding a gun to her head,” a witness told WSOC. “He kept saying ‘I’ll shoot her, I’ll shoot her.’ He wasn’t talking to the lady, he was talking to the cops.”
In the video, police told 28-year-old Autry to let the woman go, but he marched her through the backyard at gunpoint instead.
“Hey, this is not going to end well! This is not going to run well! Drop the gun!” an officer can be heard telling Autry, as he used the pregnant woman as a human shield.
In the video, the woman began to struggle with her captor and broke away for a split second.
Officers took the opportunity shoot Autry, and remove his victim to safety.
CMPD Officers Shon Sheffield, Joseph Bauer and James Tindall all fired their weapons at Autry, and all three rushed to render aid as soon as the pregnant woman was safe, WSOC reported.
All three officers were placed on paid administrative leave, as per protocol, after the shooting.
However, CMPD officials announced that the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office has found that all three officers acted lawfully, the Charlotte Observer reported.
Autry survived the shooting and was transferred to the Mecklenburg County Jail upon his release from the hospital.
The pregnant woman was taken to the hospital as a precaution, but police said she was not injured.
Police told the Charlotte Observer that the break-in was not random, because Autry mentioned the pregnant woman’s husband by name. However, her husband was not home at the time of Autry’s attack.
Autry was charged with first-degree burglary, first-degree kidnapping, assault on a female, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, WSOC reported.
The Charlotte Observer reported that Autry has remained in jail.
Watch video of the pregnant woman being taken hostage and then rescued by police in the video below: