NC Police Officer Killed, Another Wounded In Overnight Shooting

CHARLOTTE, NC — A police officer was killed and another left with non-life threatening injuries Wednesday night during an exchange of gunfire with an armed suspect, who was also killed, Concord Police Department said.

The incident occurred around 11 p.m. in the parking lot of the Sonic Drive-In, located at 7761 Gateway Lane near Concord Mills Mall in Concord.

"With a heavy heart, we confirm that two Concord Police Officers were involved in an incident resulting in the tragic loss of a CPD officer," CPD said. "This loss is devastating not only to the member's family and loved ones but every police officer across the city, state, and country."

CPD identified the fatally wounded officer as Officer Jason Shuping, who joined the department in 2019.

In a news conference Thursday morning, CPD Chief Gary Gacek said police received a 911 call around 10:20 p.m. reporting a vehicle crashed into a guardrail along northbound lanes of Interstate 85 near Exit 49. Responding officers located the vehicle, however found it unoccupied.

A woman passing by stopped the officers and told them that a man "had just attempted to take her vehicle while she was in it," Gacek said. The woman gave the officers a physical description of the man and the location of the incident, which was near Sonic Drive-In.

Two CPD officers, joined by an Alcohol Law Enforcement officer located a suspect fitting the description in the parking lot of the restaurant and approached him on foot, Gacek said.

"Moments after the agent and officers approached the subject, this subject pulled out a handgun and began shooting in the direction of the officers," Gacek said. "We believe this is the point in time when the officers sustained their injuries."

Around the same time of the shooting, two additional CPD officers arrived at the scene, and saw the wounded officers "as the suspect entered a SUV that did not belong to him," the police chief said.

"As these two officers approached, there was an exchange of gunfire between that subject and these additional officers. The subject was struck during that gunfire exchange and sustained fatal injuries," Gacek said.

The two responding officers were not injured in the incident.

Per standard procedure in a police shooting, the State Bureau of Investigation has launched an investigation into the incident and three CPD officers have also been placed on administrative leave, Galek said.