Why did a Raleigh police officer fire a gun at a moving vehicle in a busy intersection?

A police officer stopped an SUV, which had been reported stolen, at a busy Southeast Raleigh intersection after 4 p.m. Monday.

As the officer approached the GMC Terrain, the driver backed up, made his way into traffic and turned left from Merrywood Drive onto Rock Quarry Road, according to Ronald Bullock, who saw the encounter.

That’s when another Raleigh police officer, who had arrived during the traffic stop and got out of the patrol car, fired a gun at the fleeing SUV, Bullock said.

“I heard, ‘Pop! Pop! Pop!’” said Bullock, 63, who manages a strip of retail outlets near the intersection. “There was no warning or anything.”

No one was shot, but Bullock and other witnesses and Southeast Raleigh residents are questioning the officer’s decision to fire at a moving vehicle in the middle of the afternoon when bystanders were around.

The retail area managed by Bullock includes an auto-sales lot, a barber shop and a convenience store, and nearby is the Daniel Center for Math and Science, a nonprofit that serves at-risk children.

“You are going to jeopardize people’s lives because of a piece of metal,” Bullock said, referring to the SUV. “It could have been a lot, lot worse. It was a stolen car versus several lives that could have been lost.”

Raleigh police have released few details about the incident, which began with a report of a stolen vehicle and ended with a chase on Western Boulevard near the campus of N.C. State University.

Police say the driver of the SUV was Ronie Demitri Hyman, 22, of Addison Street in Raleigh. Hyman was charged with vehicle theft, felony fleeing to elude police, reckless driving and failing to stop after a property-damage accident.

A report about the shooting will be released within five days, police said, which is standard practice.

“RPD does not comment on ongoing investigations or litigation,” police spokeswoman Donna-maria Harris wrote in an email to The News & Observer on Tuesday. “A Five-Day report will be forthcoming.”

The Raleigh Police Department’s policy says officers should not shoot at a moving vehicle, “due to the risks, and considering that firearms are not generally effective in bringing a moving vehicle to a rapid halt.”

There are exceptions, the policy says, including when “no other means are available ... to avoid or eliminate the danger because the vehicle is driving directly toward the officer or third person and there is no avenue of escape.”

‘Shots fired!’

A 911 caller told a dispatcher around 4:10 p.m. Monday that his or her 2011 GMC Terrain was stolen near a Food Lion grocery store off of Raleigh Boulevard.

“You don’t know who took it?” the dispatcher asked.

“I don’t know who it was, sweetheart,” the caller said. “He just jumped in the car and went off with the car.”

The attempted traffic stop occurred a short time later.

“Shots fired! Shots fired!” an officer can be heard on radio traffic released by Raleigh police Tuesday.

A roughly 12-minute chase ensued, as the SUV ran red lights and reached speeds of about 60 mph as it traveled on Rock Quarry Road, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Western Boulevard, according to the radio traffic.

An officer can be heard saying that the left tires of the SUV were flat. It’s unclear if the officer who shot at the vehicle in the 800 block of Rock Quarry Road had punctured the tires, but Bullock said it was likely.

“I have to give him his props for not shooting up higher,” Bullock said of the officer. “His weapon was aimed down at the tires.”

The SUV came to a stop near Western Boulevard and Varsity Drive, and it caught fire, according to the radio traffic.

After he was released from WakeMed, Hyman was taken to the Wake County Justice Center under a $60,000 bail.

Busy time of day

Kirby Jones is pastor of Williams Grove Baptist Church near the intersection of Rock Quarry Road and Merrywood Drive. On Tuesday, Jones was at the church’s fellowship hall that houses the Daniel Center.

Despite the building’s proximity to the gunfire, Jones said the center’s students did not see or hear anything.

“We texted and called our parents,” he said. “The only thing that happened that affected us was we had to re-route our parking and parent pick-ups.”

But Bullock said the whole thing made him uneasy, especially because the intersection was congested with business customers and commuter traffic.

“People are getting off work and there’s a lot of trade at the stores,” he said. “People are parked away from the store, getting out of their cars, walking to the store, walking in the store. ... (The officer) was 2 feet from a woman with her child. It shocked and startled her and the child, everybody.

“Raleigh Police Department needs to do something about officers firing rounds anywhere,” Bullock continued. “Give them more training for using their weapons. If you find out there’s a stolen vehicle, lead the suspect to a different place than one that’s crowded with people.”

This story was originally published August 15, 2018 at 8:32 AM.