Michael Kelley, 32, was shot and killed by a Charlotte Mecklenburg police officer on Wednesday afternoon. Michael had robbed a pastor with a knife and then stole the pastor’s Infiniti vehicle. And upon the church robbery, Micheal proceeded to rob a Family Dollar business on West Tyvola Road.
On January 16, 2019 at 1:40 p.m., Michael entered a church in the 300 block of Freeland Lane and asked for money. When a pastor inside declined to give the suspect money, the victim stated the suspect pulled out a box cutter, cut the victim and took his car keys before stealing the victim’s Infiniti.
A short time later Michael robbed the Family Dollar Store on West Tyvola Road and left in an Infiniti. The store employees reported they believed the suspect was armed with a gun during the commission of the robbery.
CMPD Communications broadcast the robbery suspect’s description from both incidents city-wide advising officers to be on the lookout for the listed suspect and vehicle.
A patrol officer located the unoccupied stolen Infiniti in a shopping center on West Boulevard.
A CMPD K9 officer then located Michael who was on foot, fitting the description of the suspect wanted in the two armed robberies.
The officer exited his marked police vehicle and made contact with Michael. Officer Timothy Kiefer exited his vehicle and immediately began to give loud, repeated, verbal commands to Michael.
Michael immediately began to walk quickly toward Officer Kiefer, rapidly closing the distance. Officer Kiefer opened the rear door of his marked police vehicle and his K-9 exited the vehicle.
Officer Kiefer gave commands to his K-9 to engage Michael.
The suspect then began to sprint toward Officer Kiefer. Michael ignored the commands and continued to rapidly advance toward Officer Kiefer.
Officer Kiefer fired his service weapon, fatally striking Michael.
Medic responded to the scene and transported Michael to Atrium Health where he was pronounced deceased a short time later.
Crime Scene Technicians processed the scene and recovered a knife at the scene of the incident.
