No Charges for NC Officers Who Fatally Shot Man in 'Ambush' Outside Police HQ

The officers who fatally shot a 23-year-old homicide suspect during what the chief described as an ambush outside Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police headquarters in January will not be charged, Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather announced Monday.

Two CMPD officers and two probation officers returned fire when Jonathan Bennett, 23, pulled into the parking lot just before 11 p.m. on Jan. 11 and began shooting, Merriweather's report states.

"He ambushed us," CMPD Chief Kerr Putney said the day after the shooting, reports the Charlotte Observer .

CMPD Officer Casey Shue was shot in the upper left thigh, according to the report. She survived.

The two probation officers who shot Bennett — Jason Dzierzynski and Dwain Johnson — pulled into the parking lot just before Bennett and parked close to him, the report said. The officers told investigators that they encountered Bennett as he began shooting at a group of CMPD officers farther down the parking lot, so they shot him, the report said.

The two CMPD officers who shot Bennett, Jeffrey Zederbaum and Jared Decker, responded when they heard Bennett's shots and returned fire, the report said.