RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – A police officer fatally shot a man during a foot chase as he was trying to arrest him on drug charges Monday, the Raleigh police chief said.
Local television coverage showed police forming a line in the street near the downtown neighborhood where the shooting took place as a number of people gathered at the scene behind yellow crime-scene tape and began chanting “No justice, no peace!”
The chant has been used repeatedly across the nation in recent years to protest the deaths of black men following encounters with law enforcement officers.
Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown did not reveal the man’s race during a news conference at City Hall. She said a firearm was found near the man’s body, but did not say whether it was his. She also said the man was wanted on a felony drug charge. Deck-Brown declined to provide any other details about the circumstances of the shooting pending a customary investigation by the state Bureau of Investigation.
Judith Lewis, a woman who described herself as a community activist who has lived in the area for years, said a lot of drug activity takes place in the neighborhood at night. She blamed it on buyers coming in from elsewhere.
“It’s an open-air market,” she said.
It is standard procedure to put officers involved in fatal shootings on administrative leave. Police spokesman Jim Sughrue said he couldn’t confirm whether that had happened in this case.
Deck-Brown said the Raleigh Police Department’s Internal Affairs unit will investigate whether any departmental policies were violated. She said she will send a report to the city manager within five working days.
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Associated Press writers Emery P. Dalesio, Allen G. Breed and Martha Waggoner contributed to this story.