Family Says Black Man Was ‘Executed’ By Undercover Cops Over a Fake Gun, Then Left to Die as Prosecutor Clears Officers
After releasing video of a tense altercation inside a convenience store that led two undercover police officers in Gastonia, North Carolina, to fatally shoot a Black man who pulled out a fake handgun inside the store, the district attorney’s announcement on Monday that he will not prosecute the two officers has angered his family and some community members.
On Jan. 10, Derrick Terrell Manigault, 43, arrived at Jakob’s Food Mart in Gastonia, where surveillance video shows he got out of his Nissan and tucked what looked like a black firearm into the waistband of his pants. He immediately got into a verbal argument with an older man standing outside the store, David Sanders, which lasted about 30 seconds, and then went into the store.
Standing at the counter inside talking to a clerk was a plainclothes detective identified as “C.H.” in the district attorney’s report on the incident, who was conducting an alcohol compliance operation involving an underage informant who had just left the store after buying alcohol.
As Manigault made his way through the store, Sanders entered and the two men resumed their dispute. Manigault was heard saying to Sanders, “You trying to lose your life tonight?” at least three times before approaching the front of the store with cash in his hand.
Standing a few feet away, Detective C.H. observed Manigault produce what appeared to be a black handgun from his waistband and held it at his side “while posturing and continuing the confrontation,” the report said. Based on his training and experience, and given the confined environment and the presence of several civilians, the detective “believed that Manigault posed an immediate threat of death or serious bodily harm to those inside the store.”
He later told state investigators he believed Manigault was going to kill Sanders and that if the armed man started “spraying and praying,” he would kill everyone in the store.
On the video, after trading more profanity-laced insults and threats with Sanders, who had approached him near the front of the store, Manigault said, “This will be the last time … Facts.” and then turned to exit the store, still holding the gun at his side.
As he pushed open the door, Detective C.H. spun around and began firing at him, and Manigault then ran into the parking lot. The detective kept firing at the fleeing man, who tripped and then kept running, as C.H. yelled at him, “Drop it, get on the ground!”
Sergeant “C.E.,” a second plainclothes officer who was in his patrol car outside, heard the gunshots and got out of his vehicle. He later told state investigators that he saw Manigault running away with what appeared to be a handgun in his hand and saw him “make an upward motion” with it.
The Shooting Aftermath
Believing Manigault, who was 10 to 12 yards away, to be a deadly threat, Sgt. C.E. shot at Manigault, while Detective C.H. also continued to fire more shots at him, the report said.
The store surveillance videos released by Gastonia police end at this point, but the Gaston County District Attorney Travis Page’s Officer Involved Shooting Report, released last week, relied on evidence gathered by the North Carolina Bureau of Investigation, which included police bodyworn camera video, multiple witness statements and physical evidence.
After being shot multiple times and collapsing, Manigault was taken to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Officers recovered a black handgun at the scene, which was later determined to be a realistic-looking black plastic Strike Industries imitation gun that held four gold plastic ammunition rounds. It did not have an orange cap on the barrel tip, as many fake guns do.
State investigators determined that Detective C.H. fired six rounds from his Glock handgun, while Sgt. C.E. fired four times with his. The autopsy of Manigault found that he was shot four times, with gunshot wounds to his right shoulder, right elbow, lower left abdomen and chest.
A penetrating gunshot wound to his chest went through his lung and caused some of Manigault’s bones to break, which likely caused a cut to one of his coronary arteries, which the forensic pathologist deemed the fatal wound.
The two police officers were put on paid administrative leave after the shooting in January, while both an internal police review and the state investigation proceeded.
Family Reacts to Shooting
Family members of Manigault, including his wife Rebecca Insley, who was allowed to view police body-worn video not released to the public, immediately called for the firing and criminal prosecution of the officers, whom they accused of murdering Manigault.
She said that contrary to initial police reports, Manigault had not waved the gun around inside the store or pointed it at anyone. And she argued that he was shot in the back by police as he walked, then ran away from them.
“My husband wasn’t a bad guy,” she told the Gaston Gazette in January. “I would just implore everyone to wait until all of the facts come out and not rush to judgment.”
After District Attorney Page found that the use of deadly force by both officers was legally justified and did not warrant criminal charges, Insley said this week that she felt “heartbreak all over again,” and then “rage that builds up.”
She said the video she saw indicated that no one at the scene provided medical aid to Manigault, though Page’s report said officers rendered aid after they determined he was no longer a threat, WSOC reported.
She also questions whether the officers identified themselves before opening fire.
“It went from white man in a corner to shooting to kill my husband in a matter of seconds; there was no in between,” she said.
In an interview on May 7, Insley said she plans to press on and continue seeking justice for her husband.
“I have got to see what the next step is. I don’t know if that is the North Carolina Department of Justice … But I am going to pursue next steps in hopes I can get my husband justice,” she said. “My husband was not a throw away. He was loved by a lot of people.”
Gaston County Community Talk, a public interest media organization focused on police accountability, is also skeptical of police and prosecutors’ accounts of the incident and is demanding that Gastonia Police release the full bodycam video.
Noting that the police said Manigault looked back at Detective C.H. and that his “hand moved up as he left the store,” GCCT argues that the police provided a misleading freeze-frame edit of a man running with a gun in his hand.
It further noted that the DA’s report does not say whether verbal commands were given before the police fired, if the fake gun was pointed at anyone, or if it was “merely visible during an argument. … Even if the firearm were real … does that justify an on-sight execution when the weapon was never pointed at anyone or used to assault anyone?”
“Law enforcement narratives often rely on phrases like ‘threatening movements, furtive movements, reaching,’ or ‘moved his hand,” noted GCCT. “Those phrases may sound official, but they do not substitute for the evidence itself. The public deserves to see enough of the video, timing, distance, commands, positioning, and line of fire to judge whether deadly force was truly unavoidable. Across the country, video evidence has repeatedly exposed gaps, omissions, and falsehoods in official police and prosecutor narratives.”
“Those are not minor questions. They are the difference between accepting an official summary and demanding public accountability.”
