CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Authorities believe a suspect in a pair of armed robberies was armed with a knife when a police officer shot and killed him in the parking lot of a North Carolina shopping center.
Lt. Brad Koch of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said Thursday that investigators believe 32-year-old Michael Daniel Kelley brandished a knife before Officer Timothy Kiefer fatally shot him Wednesday.
A department statement says Kiefer shot Kelley after the suspect ran toward him and ignored the officer’s commands. The statement also says investigators recovered a knife at the scene of the shooting.
Kiefer is a dog handler and a 12-year veteran of the department. He has been placed on administrative leave, a standard procedure for police shootings.
Koch says the officer is white, and so was Kelley.
