A veteran Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer was shot Tuesday morning while serving a warrant to a fugitive in York County, authorities say.
The officer, identified as Shane Page, was taken to Carolinas Medical Center, where he underwent surgery. Police said later Tuesday that Page, 42, is expected to recover. He was shot twice in the midsection, authorities said.
The suspect, identified as 31-year-old James William Lewis, also was wounded in the shootout. Lewis, who police say was wanted for robbery with a dangerous weapon, suffered minor injuries.
This was not Page's first encounter with a shooting during an attempt to serve a warrant. In April 2006, he was a member of a SWAT team that included Officer Kayvan Hazrati, who was shot in the head by a suspect. Hazrati recovered, and Page earned a CMPD Medal of Valor for helping a fellow officer.
Robert Tufano, a CMPD spokesman, said Page is a 13-year veteran with the department. According to a 2009 Charlotte Magazine article, Page is a graduate of The Citadel and worked as a narcotics officer with the Charleston Police Department before coming to CMPD in 2000. He is married with two children.
On Tuesday morning, Page was with a Violent Criminal Apprehension Team that was working with agents from the FBI's Safe Streets Task Force and the York County Sheriff's Office to find Lewis. The shooting took place about 6 a.m. at a house in the 300 block of Brookside Drive near Fort Mill. That is a short distance across the state line.
Police said Page and other officers used a loudspeaker, advising Lewis to come out. When the suspect failed to leave the house, police attempted to enter. Investigators say Page was shot when he opened a door.
An older couple lives in the house on Brookside, said neighbor Stephanie Renner.
Renner said she did not hear any gunshots this morning, but when her children left their home to walk to the end of the street to wait for the bus, they came back after seeing the police tape.
An officer informed her of the shooting, she said.
The man and woman were "nice people," Renner said, but had fallen on hard times in the past. She didn't believe that Lewis lived at the home, and said that "lot of different characters" were often seen coming in and out of the house.
The shooting happened 1.5 miles away from Fort Mill Middle School and Fort Mill Elementary School and about 2 miles from the Anne Springs Close Greenway. Fort Mill School District spokesperson Kelly McKinney said a middle school bus that normally picks students up in Foxwood was unable to do so because police weren't allowing traffic in the neighborhood.
Jonathan McFadden of the (Rock Hill) Herald contributed.
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