Former Raleigh cop shot in the face tells shooter ‘I have no idea how I am alive’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Shooter Cedric Kearney pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of a Raleigh cop.
- The victim, Charlie Ainsworth, survived, retired and now works as a prosecutor.
- A judge sentenced Kearney to up to 14 years in prison.
Former Raleigh Police Officer Charlie Ainsworth looked into the eyes of the man who shot him in the face six years ago, ending his law enforcement career, and spoke without hesitation.
“I’ve struggled to put into words how much of a large and negative impact this has had on my life,” Ainsworth said Friday, the dimpled scar from his wound visible on his jaw. “I don’t even know you ... I have no idea how I am alive.”
In fact, Ainsworth continued, 30-year-old Cedric Kearney was lucky to be pleading guilty only to attempted murder today; had Ainsworth not survived, Kearney likely would have faced a capital trial.
“I hope you know how fortunate you are,” Ainsworth said, his wife and baby daughter watching amid a sea of Raleigh police officers in the gallery.
Kearney shot at Ainsworth and another officer six times shortly after 8 p.m. on Jan. 9, 2019, when the pair responded to a reported sighting of a stolen car at an apartment complex off Western Boulevard. Kearney had reportedly stolen a 2015 Dodge Dart five days earlier and was trying to get back into the car with another man when Ainsworth and his colleague arrived, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said.
When the officers ordered the men to freeze, Kearney fled, firing off a Glock 45 pistol as he did so, according to Freeman. Ainsworth said a bullet struck him in the jaw and “went through [his] face,” ricocheting off his spine before lodging in his shoulder. He was hospitalized until April 2019 and suffered several strokes, forcing him to medically retire from the Raleigh Police Department, according to a news release from Campbell Law School.
Ainsworth went on to attend law school at Campbell University, graduating in 2023, and moved to Georgia to work as an assistant prosecutor, according to his LinkedIn profile. He received a heroism award from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina in 2022.
Kearney, who also faced federal charges, was found in a nearby shed and arrested that same night.
He was quickly found incompetent to stand trial, and a forensic evaluation showed he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, according to his defense attorney, Deonte’ Thomas.
In statements to the court Friday, Thomas said his client had more opportunities than most, graduating from a military institution for high school and finding work in the roofing industry. But he was raised by a father who claimed Kearney’s mother abandoned him at 6 years old, and Kearney moved to North Carolina as an adult to try to find her, according to Thomas.
“He never sought [mental health] treatment, but people said he started acting weird,” Thomas said.
After years in and out of mental hospitals while awaiting prosecution on his federal and state charges, Kearney regained competency to stand trial and pleaded guilty to federal charges of carjacking, brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime and possession of a stolen firearm in October 2021, The News & Observer previously reported.
But after returning to the Wake County jail, which does not force detainees to take their psychiatric medication, Kearney regressed and had to be committed to Central Regional Hospital for another competency evaluation, Thomas said. After further treatment, his competency was restored in July, court documents show.
“I just hope that people pay more attention to true, serious mental illness,” Thomas said. “Until we put more effort into helping people like Mr. Kearney, the system will help them on the back end.”
Kearney has seen the footage of the shooting and apologized for his actions, according to Thomas.
Superior Court Judge Paul Holcombe sentenced Kearney to a minimum of 10 years and 10 months and a maximum of 14 years in prison; after that sentence, he’ll serve 21 years in federal prison on the federal charges.
In exchange for his guilty plea to charges of attempted murder, assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm and larceny of a firearm, nine other charges against Kearney were dismissed.
Holcombe also recommended Kearney receive continued mental health treatment and additional vocational and educational training in prison.
Addressing a crowd of colleagues after the hearing, Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce thanked them for their support of Ainsworth.
“As your chief, I want to say thank you,” Boyce said. “I love you. I appreciate what each and every one of you do every day.”
Before sending his officers off to their Friday shifts, he told them to stay safe.
“Look out for one another and make sure you get home to the people that love you the most — your family,” Boyce said.
And it was because of family that Ainsworth wasn’t sure he’d be able to forgive Kearney, he said in his victim impact statement.
“What I cannot forgive and will not forgive is what you did to my wife,” Ainsworth said, noting the couple have welcomed two children since the incident. “You just about killed my entire family in one night ... This act of cowardice will stick with me for the rest of my life.”
This story was originally published September 12, 2025 at 12:03 PM.
