By Staff
The Associated Press
CHARLOTTE — Two police officers shot during a struggle outside an apartment complex died early Sunday, authorities said.
Sean Clark, 34, and Jeffrey Shelton, 35, were the first officers from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg department fatally shot in the line of duty in more than a decade.
Stephens said the two officers were responding to a disturbance call around 10:30 p.m. Saturday night at the apartment complex in east Charlotte. They were shot around 11:15 p.m. in the parking lot during a struggle. Neither fired their weapon, Stephens said.
Clark and Shelton were taken to Carolinas Medical Center, where they later died. Clark had been with the police department for a year, and Shelton had worked there since 2001.
0002000005E1000003E35DB,Police knew little Sunday about who might have shot the officers. They were looking for at least two people, and blocked a road near the apartment complex for several hours overnight. Police used patrols, a helicopter, K-9 units and a SWAT team during the search.
Both officers were married. Clark, a 1991 graduate of West Mecklenburg High School who had worked for the department for a little more than a year, and his wife were expecting a child. Shelton was a six year veteran of the force.
A Charlotte officer was last shot and killed on duty in 1993, when officers John Burnette and Andy Nobles died while chasing Alden Harden through a wooded section of southwest Charlotte, The Charlotte Observer reported on its Web site. Harden was convicted a year later and is one of 166 inmates on North Carolina’s death row.
Last year, Officer Kayvan Hazrati survived when he was shot in the head while trying to serve a rape warrant in north Charlotte. He has yet to return to work.
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