MOORESVILLE, N.C. (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) — The community of Mooresville is in mourning following the murder of K9 Officer Jordan Sheldon.
“Utterly devastated,” said Mooresville Mayor Miles Atkins. “That’s the only word I can really think about to describe how so many of us are feeling in this community.”
Mooresville police have received an outpouring of support and a pledge of support from Gov. Roy Cooper.
“We’re angry. We’re hurt,” said Mooresville Police Chief Damon Williams. “We’re sad.”
“This isn’t a number for us,” said Atkins, at a news conference, in tears. “This is a real person and we’re heartbroken.”
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Sheldon, 32, was involved in a “routine traffic stop,” according to police, around 10 p.m. Saturday night. He had pulled over Michael Aldona, 28, who was out on $2,000 bond following a recent DWI arrest.
At some point, Williams says, Sheldon was shot. He was taken to the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte where he was pronounced dead.
FOX 46 reporter Matt Grant asked Williams what led to Aldona being pulled over and what may have led up to the shooting.
“We’re still early in the investigation,” the chief said, declining to comment further “at this time.”
The chief says Sheldon was wearing body camera video, which was on at the time of his murder. Authorities are reviewing that video evidence to determine what led up to the killing.
RELATED: Memorial set up for slain Mooresville police officer
Afterward, Aldona fled to the the Mooresville Station Apartment complex. Police tracked him down and found him inside his apartment dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“I thought it was a transformer that blew up,” said neighbor Andrew Merchant. “It seemed like something out of a movie.”
Merchant heard the gun shot and says cops quickly evacuated everyone in his building.
“They had guns trained on the apartment building,” he recalled. “It’s probably the most adrenaline filling thing I’ll ever experience in my life. Probably one of those one-in-a-million things for me.”
Another neighbor, Dwayne Campbell, also couldn’t believe the chaotic scene.
“It was very tense,” he recalled. “You could hear it in [the officers’] voice[s]. There was a lot of emotions. A lot of anger. They were very upset and screaming at people to go back inside.”
“This is a crazy world we live in,” he added.
Sheldon had been on the force for six years.
“I appreciate his service,” said Campbell. “May God bless him and his soul. Rest in peace.”
