Autopsy shows gunman who killed 4 Charlotte law enforcement officers was shot 12 times
The gunman who killed four law enforcement officers in April after a U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force tried to serve a warrant was shot 12 times and died from the gunshot wounds, according to a North Carolina medical examiner’s report.
Terry Clark Hughes Jr., who ambushed task force members on April 29, was struck by bullets that entered the upper and lower parts of his body, his autopsy report shows.
The autopsy also indicates he had THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — in his system at the time of his death. The tests didn’t indicate that he had alcohol or other impairing substances in his body.
He had 17 ng/mL of THC in his system, the toxicology test showed. In a number of states, someone with that amount of THC would be considered legally impaired.
Hughes, 39, had been charged with several gun and drug offenses over the years.
The shootout began around 1:30 p.m. when task force members approached a home on Galway Drive in east Charlotte, attempting to serve Hughes a warrant for a weapons charge and for a 120 mph escape from police in Lincoln County almost four months earlier.
Armed with an AR-15, Hughes opened fire from a second-floor window.
He killed four officers: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Joshua Eyer, Sam Poloche and Alden Elliott with the state Department of Adult Correction, and U.S. Marshal deputy Thomas Weeks Jr.
Four other officers were shot and wounded.
Police say Hughes shot repeatedly at officers from multiple windows, firing at least 100 bullets.
About a half hour after the firing began, Hughes jumped out of a second-floor window and was shot by officers. He died in the front yard, police said. Three officers fired fatal rounds, according to CMPD’s attorney.
Over a span of more than two decades, Hughes was charged with roughly 50 misdemeanors and felonies, including five that involved guns. He was convicted about a dozen times and served more than two years in state prison. But Hughes was rarely violent before April 29, records and interviews indicate.
He had three children and worked as a traveling electrician, friends say.
This is a developing story.
