GASTONIA, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Video obtained by Queen City News shows the moments an accused kidnapper runs over an officer with his vehicle as a flurry of shots are fired at the suspect, ultimately killing him, while trying to flee the scene.
New video shows the suspect, identified as Jason Lipscomb, 21, running across a neighborhood on North Edgemont Avenue, getting into his vehicle, and quickly backing out of the parking spot.
The video shows a person fall in front of the suspect vehicle and get run over. Gastonia Police confirm with Queen City News the person run over and seriously injured was a Gastonia police officer.
A volley of shots are observed in the video as Lipscomb tries to speed away from the scene. Gastonia Police said Lipscomb was removed from the vehicle following the shooting, and rendered aid by police.
Lipscomb was pronounced deceased at the scene.
A spokesperson for the police department said the situation started as a call for kidnapping at Precious Moments Daycare on West 5th Avenue. They said a family member of two young children informed them Lipscomb had picked up the kids from the facility without authorization.
Lipscomb’s stepfather Robert Hamlett told Queen City News the children are the kids of his stepson’s in-laws.
“Whether he had the right to have them here, I don’t know nothing about that. That was my son. I let him in the door,” said Hamlett, who says Lipscomb took the children to his home on North Edgemont Avenue after picking them up from the daycare.
Police said they found the kids safe in the home, but they said Lipscomb was trying to flee the scene in a car.
“During the course of that investigation, the suspect was operating a vehicle, struck one of our officers, and at least one officer discharged his service weapon,” said Rick Goodale with the Gastonia Police Department.
The new surveillance video shows multiple Gastonia police officers firing their service weapons.
Goodale said the officer that was hit and run over by the suspect vehicle was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
Raw footage of the officer-involved shooting is below:
Neighbors told Queen City News it’s not usual to see a few police cars around the neighborhood every now and then, but it is unusual for a scene to be as involved as the one Wednesday afternoon.
“I was coming home from work, and I come around the corner and see all these police cars, and I’m like, ‘what in the world!’,” said neighbor Kim Hearn.
A staff member at Precious Moments Daycare declined to comment on the situation, saying the investigation is ongoing.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the officer-involved shooting, and GPD’s Internal Affairs division is conducting its own investigation as well. The officers who discharged their weapons will be placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, as is customary with officer-involved shootings.
