CMPD officer who shot and killed man during domestic dispute won’t be charged

“Within a matter of seconds,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers “confronted a sequence of serious and imminent threats” before one of those officers fatally shot a man during a domestic dispute in August, Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather said Friday.

The DA said he will not seek charges against Officer Tyler Bourque, who fired the fatal bullet into the chest of Peter Cory.

The imminent threats to Bourque and Officer Shawn McMichael included “a gunshot behind a closed door, the brandishing of a firearm, the physical assault of an officer, and finally the stabbing of an officer about the head,” Merriweather wrote Friday to Brandon Blackmon, interim special agent in charge of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.

Body cam video reveals gunfire and screams before man was shot, killed by CMPD officer

“There is no question that Officer Bourque was indeed reasonable in his belief the decedent posed an imminent threat of great bodily harm or death to himself and Officer McMichael, and his use of lethal force is justified by law,” Merriweather wrote.

The DA’s office released the letter in an email to news outlets, including The Charlotte Observer.

How the scene unfolded

Repeated shots and a woman’s screams can be heard as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers approached and entered an apartment at The Penrose, where police say Cory stabbed McMichael before Bourque fatally shot Cory, body cam video released in December showed.

In Friday’s letter, Merriweather said Cory’s girlfriend called a non-emergency police line saying he “was paranoid, having a panic attack, and seeing people who were not there.”

A neighbor called 911 requesting police response after hearing a man yelling and a woman crying, according to the letter.

Bourque and McMichael were dispatched to the call. Bourque arrived first and knocked on the apartment door for about four minutes with no answer, Merriweather said.

The officer heard yelling and screaming and, a couple of minutes later, a gunshot. McMichael arrived as the gunshot rang out, and he kicked in the door, Merriweather wrote.

Woman found shot and bleeding

Body-worn camera footage shows that as the officers entered the home, “terrified screams of ‘help me, help me, please help me!’ and sounds of a physical struggle emanated from the back bedroom,” according to the DA’s letter.

Bourque entered that bedroom and saw the woman bleeding from a gunshot wound to her left arm, Merriweather said. As Bourque stood in the doorway, Cory “emerged from behind a dresser brandishing a firearm” and extended the gun in Bourque’s direction, the DA wrote.

The gun slipped or was knocked from Cory and fell on the floor.

“Put it down,” Bourque repeated to Cory before both “raced to recover the loose firearm,” according to the letter. Cory tackled Bourque, slamming him to the ground and dislodging his body-worn camera, Merriweather continued.

Cory then stabbed McMichael with a knife, and Bourque shot Cory once in the chest, according to the DA’s narrative.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.