District attorney: CMPD officers were 'reasonable' with use of force in deadly shooting: Wednesday, Feb. 22

Two Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers who fired shots during the deadly shooting of an armed robbery suspect last June were justified in their use of force, the district attorney announced Tuesday. CMPD responded to a reported armed robbery at a Food Lion on Tuckaseegee Road around 1 p.m. on June 26. Officers spotted a person matching Kevin Boston's description while en route to the store and attempted to contact him. When officers approached Boston, he allegedly put both bags on the ground and reached toward his pants and pulled out a gun, according to District Attorney Spencer Merriweather.READ MORE: https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/crime/deadly-police-shooting-officers-justified-district-attorney-says/275-1a4b32be-5037-4cac-bbec-e12d5fef6254With less than a month on the job, new Gastonia Police Chief Trent Conard has his hands full as he tries to recruit more officers to the force.This is something he acknowledged Tuesday night as he presented some incentives to Gastonia city leaders that he says will help retain and recruit officers.“Law enforcement is faced with a difficult time in history,” Conard said. “Having adequate staffing has become an issue.”Gastonia’s police department faces the same challenges that other law enforcement departments do – trying to get officers when it’s even harder to recruit.READ MORE: https://www.wcnc.com/article/money/gastonia-police-department-recruitment-employeers-officers/275-6e610499-7fb0-4f11-b446-11e7ade47776Watch Wake Up Charlotte each weekday morning from 4:30 to 7 a.m. on WCNC Charlotte, and as always, join the conversation on social media using #WakeUpCLT!