CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A man holding a pregnant woman at gunpoint in North Carolina was shot by police officers after the woman slipped out of his grasp, authorities said.
The officers were responding to a home invasion call at a north Charlotte home about 10 p.m. Monday when they shot Johnathan Autry several times, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said in a statement.
"Somehow she was free just in an instant. That's when they saw that imminent threat and they fired their weapons," Police Chief Kerr Putney said at a news conference after the shooting.
Autry and a second man broke into the home and demanded the woman give them money, saying the name of her husband, police said.
The second suspect escaped and has not been caught, authorities said.
Autry, 28, was in critical condition at the hospital Tuesday morning. When he recovers, he will face first-degree burglary, first-degree kidnapping and other charges.
The woman and a child inside the home, and the officers were not seriously injured, authorities said.
The three officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave. Officer Shon Sheffield has been on the force for five years, Officer Joseph Bauer has worked for the department almost four years and Officer James Tindall was hired last October, the department said.
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