GASTONIA, N.C. — Newly released video shows the moments leading up to a deadly officer‑involved shooting inside Jakob’s Food Mart in Gastonia, a case the district attorney has ruled a justified homicide, meaning no charges will be filed against the officers involved.
The shooting happened in January, when Derrick Manigault got into an argument with another man outside the store and then continued the confrontation inside.
In the video, Manigault can be heard asking the man if he “wanted to lose his life tonight” before pulling out what investigators later confirmed was a fake gun.
Manigault, holding the replica firearm pointed toward the ground, began walking toward the exit.
That’s when an undercover Gastonia police officer inside the store opened fire.
A second plain‑clothes detective outside heard the gunshots and fired as Manigault ran out of the store with the gun raised. Manigault collapsed and later died at the hospital.
In its report, the district attorney’s office wrote that the Constitution “does not require police to gamble with their lives in the face of a serious threat of harm.”
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