Man killed by US Marshals at Charlotte gas station was fugitive wanted on 16 warrants

CHARLOTTE — Dozens of law enforcement officers and agents are investigating a shooting that left a man dead Tuesday morning at a gas station in east Charlotte’s Plaza Midwood neighborhood.

Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over the Citgo gas station on The Plaza and Parkwood Avenue around 11 a.m. and dozens of officers could be seen swarming the parking lot.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said 32-year-old Frankie Jennings was killed in the shooting. His birthday was Tuesday.

According to sources, federal Marshals with the Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force were trying to arrest Jennings who was wanted on 16 felony warrants when the shooting happened:

• Three warrants were out of Carolina Beach for assault with a deadly weapon on a government official, felony flee to elude arrest with a motor vehicle and reckless driving.
• Six warrants were out of Charlotte for two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, felony breaking and entering, discharging a firearm in the city limits and assault on a female and damage to property.
• Seven warrants out of York, S.C., for possession of marijuana, failing to stop for blue lights and five other traffic-related warrants.

Sources told Channel 9 that Jennings was pumping gas when agents attempted to serve him the warrants. During the arrest, police said a deputy US Marshal “perceived a lethal threat” and fired a shot, killing Jennings.

A gun belonging to Jennings was found at the scene, according to police. It’s still unclear if he ever fired the weapon.

Channel 9 spoke with neighbors who said they heard the commotion outside their homes.

“I heard two shots and that’s when I came outside to see what was going on,” Danny McDowell said.

Another neighbor said she saw two men tussling near the gas pumps.

“I saw two people struggling but I didn’t know who was police and who wasn’t,” she said.

CMPD tweeted just after 11:30 a.m. that its officers were providing support resources to a U.S. Marshals Service investigation and that the police department was not involved in an officer-involved shooting.

Police said no officers with the CRFTF were injured during the shooting.

A candlelight vigil was held Tuesday night to support Jennings family.

“We can’t keep playing the victim,” his sister, LaTonnya Jennings, said. “I’m not saying my brother was an innocent person, but he was a father. He was a son. He was a brother. He was an uncle.”

LaTonnya Jennings and her sister, Kesha Leake, returned to the scene of the shooting the next day. They want to know what led to the deadly encounter.

“Even if (the U.S. Marshal) had warrants or not, and I’m not saying he did, because I don’t know that,” Latanya Jennings said. “That still doesn’t give them the right to draw their guns on someone and kill him in broad daylight.”

Authorities gave an update on Wednesday. Veteran crime reporter Mark Becker asked where the gun was recovered at the scene.

“Again, at this time we’re not prepared to talk about the particulars of any kind of pieces of evidence,” CMPD Capt. Joel McNelly said.

Sources confirmed that the U.S. Marshals in that federal task force don’t routinely wear body cameras.

“I just want answers to why? What happened?” LaTonnya Jennings said.

“What threat did he give?” Leake said.

Return to this developing story.

Cox Media Group