Warrant: Man used glass bottle to attack Circle K employee before Durham police killed him
The man shot and killed earlier this week by two Durham police officers inside a Circle K was not holding a gun or knife, according to a search warrant initiated by the State Bureau of Investigations. Instead, he was using a glass bottle to attack a convenience store clerk and to harm himself, the warrants show.
Officers responded to a call on Wednesday morning that a man was stabbing 31-year-old Camara Turner inside the store. Turner also told 911 operators that the man had cut open his neck with a glass bottle.
When officers arrived at the gas station on 109 N.C. Highway 54, near Fayetteville Road, they saw there was blood on the floor. Because the doors to the Circle K were locked, officer Brittney Vasquez shot through the glass. The gunfire struck Charles Walker Piquet, 51 from Chapel Hill, inside the Circle K.
The warrants said that Vasquez gave Piquet "commands" before she fired additional shots at Piquet. Investigators did not make it clear what commands Vasquez gave Piquet and did not say whether or not he followed them.
The warrants say both Vasquez and officer Richard Gamboa rendered aid to Piquet after he was shot, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
“My staff and I are always saddened by any loss of life. We will continue to keep our officers and the store clerk in our thoughts and offer condolences to the family of the man that has died,” said Durham Police Chief Patricia Andrews.
The warrants do not say how many shots were fired or where Piquet was struck.
It's unclear at this time if the shooting will be deemed justified by the SBI, but the state does say that a deadly weapon can include a bottle, a pencil, a rock or a car if it has the ability to cause harm.
This was the second officer-involved shooting in the Triangle this week. A man holding a knife near a small child was shot by police in Raleigh on Tuesday afternoon after a serious crash on I-440.
