Late-Night Strip-Mall Shootout Leaves One Dead On Hendersonville Road

A reported gun call at an Asheville strip mall turned deadly Tuesday night when a person inside a Hendersonville Road business allegedly opened fire through a glass door at responding officers, prompting them to shoot back, according to police. The confrontation happened around 9:45 p.m. on April 21 near Summit Avenue. The person was taken to Mission Hospital and died early Wednesday, and one officer suffered non-life-threatening injuries from shattered glass. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation has been brought in for an independent review.

What police say

Asheville police say officers were dispatched to a business in the 1900 block of Hendersonville Road after reports of an armed individual. When officers moved toward the entrance, the person allegedly fired at them through a glass door, and officers returned fire, according to WBTV. The individual was transported to Mission Hospital for treatment and later died in the early morning hours Wednesday. Officials have not yet released the person's name or age.

The strip mall that became the scene of the shootout is home to several small businesses, including restaurants, a nail salon, a hair salon and a coin shop, police told reporters, underscoring how quickly an ordinary weeknight commercial corridor turned into an active crime scene.

Investigation under way

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation has been notified and will handle an independent review of the officer-involved shooting in line with department protocol, according to FOX Carolina. The SBI's press-release page explains how the agency manages officer-involved cases and where it posts public updates as investigations move forward. Authorities have not said if or when body-worn camera video or other evidence from the incident will be made public.

What happens next

So far, officials have released only a brief narrative of what happened and have not named the person who was shot, WBTV reported. Reviews by the SBI can run for days or weeks, and the findings are typically turned over to a district attorney, who decides whether any charges are warranted, a process that has played out in other North Carolina cases.

WECT has previously reported on how district attorney offices rely on SBI reports when making those decisions. This story will be updated as the Asheville Police Department and the SBI release additional information about the shooting.