Police identify suspect shot, wounded by officer in North Carolina chase

Published 7:23 pm Saturday, May 29, 2021

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Police in North Carolina’s largest city identified on Friday a suspect who was shot and wounded during a foot chase in which he fired at officers.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said in a news release that Shelton Smith, 39, is hospitalized in critical condition. Detectives obtained warrants for Smith’s arrest, and once he is released from the hospital, police said he would face multiple charges, including two counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault on law enforcement with a firearm.

According to the news release, officers were trying to speak to a person matching the description of a suspect in a recent shooting and armed robbery when the person fled. During the pursuit, police said the person fired at officers and one officer fired a service weapon and hit the person, whose firearm was recovered at the scene.

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CMPD identified the officer who fired at Smith as Officer Trey Hinton, who was hired in September 2018, according to police. Hinton is on administrative assignment, the news release said.

The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation is looking into the shooting, and CMPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau will conduct a separate but parallel investigation to determine whether department policies and procedures were followed.

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