Charlotte shooting suspect had a 20-year rap sheet including drug, assault and weapons charges

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

Prior to the fierce shootout in Charlotte, North Carolina – in which four law enforcement officers were killed and several others wounded – police had been attempting to serve felony warrants on 39-year-old Terry Clark Hughes Jr.

Hughes – who also died in the shootout – had been arrested dozens of times, with almost 50 cases listed online, including charges relating to drug manufacture, firearm possession and aggravated assault.

The charges against him stretch back over 20 years and across multiple counties in North Carolina, with one listed against him as far back as 2001 over communicating threats — against his own father, Terry Clark Hughes Sr.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CPMD) chief Johnny Jennings said that Hughes Jr had previously spent a “significant amount of time” behind bars.

CPMD said that at the time of Monday’s incident, Hughes was wanted for possession of a firearm by felon and felony flee to elude out of Lincoln County, North Carolina.

On 24 April, he had failed to appear in court related to charges of possession of firearm by felon and marijuana possession, according to the department.

Online records seen by The Independent showed that in 2021, Hughes was charged with possessing drug paraphernalia, and manufacturing and possession of marijuana with the intent to sell or deliver.

He was also charged with having maintained or kept a “shop, residence, building, or some other place” for the purpose of selling, keeping, or using a controlled substance. That same year, he was also charged with fleeing to elude arrest.

Also listed on his sprawling rap sheet were crimes spread across North Carolina counties including Mecklenburg, Alamance, Chatham and Rowan.

Back in 2012, Hughes was incarcerated for four months after being convicted of traffic offences, breaking and entering and multiple weapons law violations. Records indicated also was also charged with eluding arrest with two aggravating factors – reckless driving to endanger, driving while licence revoked

According to WCNC, Hughes led police on a high-speed chase through Alamance county, which reached up to 100mph after he turned around to avoid a checkpoint.

In April 2010 he was arrested for aggravated assault against a female in Charlotte. That same year he was convicted of breaking and entering in Person County, north of Raleigh-Durham, and spent approximately six months in prison before being released in May 2011.

One year prior in 2009, he had been charged with the same offence as well as possessing a stolen firearm.

In 2006 Hughes was twice charged with carrying a concealed gun and jailed again later that year in December on further charges of weapons law violations.

In his final act on Monday he is suspected of killing four law enforcement officers, before being gunned down by police as he attempted to exit a residence on Galway Drive, in Charlotte.

Shots were fired from overhead, as he was apparently shooting from the second floor of his home, CMPD said.

“Preliminary information indicates that the suspect was firing from an elevated position inside the residence while ambushing officers making it extremely difficult for officers to seek cover,” the force wrote on X.

CMPD added that two females who were inside the residence were brought in to be interviewed by detectives and were cooperating with the ongoing investigation. “At this time, there are no additional suspects or persons of interest,” the department said.