{"id":419,"date":"2026-05-20T13:06:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T13:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=419"},"modified":"2026-05-20T13:06:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T13:06:22","slug":"questions-loom-over-nc-corner-store-where-police-killed-man-who-had-fake-gun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=419","title":{"rendered":"Questions loom over NC corner store where police killed man who had fake gun"},"content":{"rendered":"

What officers said about her uncle<\/a> wasn\u2019t true \u2014 it couldn\u2019t be, Olivia Henderson thought. So when state agents launched an investigation into the local police who killed him, she launched one, too.<\/p>\n

Read more Greg Biffle narrowly misses NASCAR Hall of Fame. One inductee says he \u2018deserves\u2019 it<\/a><\/p>\n

Undercover Gastonia Police Department officers shot Derrick Manigault at Jakob\u2019s Food Mart<\/a> in west Gastonia after 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 10. At the time, police said he came in waving a gun around and \u201cmaking threatening movements.\u201d<\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t sound like the man her aunt had been married to more than a year, so Henderson, 33, looked for answers in and around the store. Every day, for at least 14 days after the shooting, she walked through the same door where Manigault was shot. She talked to regulars, cashiers and anyone who said they saw it happen.<\/p>\n

She tried, again and again, to get security video of the shooting herself. It would show the truth, she thought.<\/p>\n

Henderson never got a copy. The owners told her investigators had taken the video from them, Henderson said. But when Gaston County District Attorney Travis Page reviewed the SBI\u2019s findings and cleared the officers earlier this month<\/a>, the local police department released the store\u2019s footage themselves.<\/p>\n

It showed Manigault walking into the shop.<\/p>\n

He did not wave a gun.<\/p>\n

Video shows Manigault, 43, argued with a man for about 30 seconds before walking inside Jakob\u2019s Food Mart. Manigault was looking around the refrigerators and rows of chips when the man followed him in. The two argued again for about 20 seconds.<\/p>\n

During the arguments, Manigault said: \u201cI just said \u2018What\u2019s up, bro,\u201d \u201cWhat the f\u2014 wrong with you?\u201d and \u201cYou gotta leave me the f\u2014 alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three times while inside the store, Manigault asked the man if he was \u201ctrying to lose your life tonight.\u201d After about a minute total of back and forth, Manigault took out a fake gun and held it by his side.<\/p>\n

The man responded, but his words are unintelligible in the recording. One witness described the man as a \u201ccrackhead,\u201d Page said in his report. After reviewing state agents\u2019 interview with the man, Page wrote that he was \u201cunreliable.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Gastonia Police Department detective wearing a Harley-Davidson t-shirt and Boston Red Sox baseball cap was standing nearby as Manigault held the fake gun in his hand for about 10 seconds. When Manigault turned to leave the store, the plainclothes detective investigating underage alcohol sales shot.<\/p>\n

As Manigault ran outside Jakob\u2019s Food Mart, the officer continued to shoot, and yelled \u201cDrop it, get on the ground,\u201d surveillance video shows. A Gastonia police sergeant parked outside shot, too. According to the video, neither officer identifies themselves as police.<\/p>\n

Manigault ran across the street and died later that night.<\/p>\n

Page in his report said the officers were legally justified<\/a> in shooting Manigault and seeing him as an \u201cimmediate and deadly threat.\u201d Page and police have declined to name the officers, even though police names are public record<\/a>. Manigault\u2019s family identified them as Det. Cody Huffstetler and Sgt. Cody Edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been heartbreak all over again,\u201d Manigault\u2019s wife, Rebecca Insley said after police released the video and Page announced his decision. \u201cI trusted the process, I waited, and I had faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

Insley and Manigault met during a downtown Gastonia bar crawl in early 2024. That was a few months after he was released from prison after serving more than 30 years for a 1999 rape conviction. His family said he was ready to turn his life around after release. By June 2024, he and Insley were married.<\/p>\n

Read more Man poured gas on woman and set her on fire in middle of the night, NC police say<\/a><\/p>\n

Insley told the Observer her husband would stop by Jakob\u2019s to buy cigars or a snack on the way to her place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think color has a lot to do with this,\u201d Insley\u2019s sister and Olivia Henderson\u2019s mother, Leigh Henderson, told the Observer. \u201cIf Derrick was a white man, maybe he would\u2019ve gotten 10 more seconds to live, to talk to the officer or to just walk out the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, Gastonia Police Chief Trent Conard said \u201cit was Mr. Manigault who put this sequence of events into motion … Our Officers acted quickly to protect themselves and the other citizens believing that Mr. Manigault\u2019s weapon was real.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leigh Henderson said she could have understood the officer firing his weapon as soon as Manigault pulled out his gun, but she can\u2019t understand why police waited until his hand was on the door to shoot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really chilling to watch that officer literally not say a word … I jumped when we saw that video, because it was just so unexpected,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Civil rights attorneys Micheal L. Littlejohn and Anthony Burts are representing the family.<\/p>\n

About a month after the shooting, Olivia Henderson showed an Observer reporter around the west Gastonia convenience store. By that time, the people who frequented the market recognized her.<\/p>\n

How\u2019s the case going?<\/i> Anything new?<\/i> they\u2019d say before asking for a few bucks or a snack from inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cNope,\u201d Olivia Henderson replied, \u201cbut we\u2019re trying to bring some light to the case \u2014 share what really happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert Springs, a 48-year-old who lives in a tent near the market, told the Observer that Manigault was \u201cgood people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manigault would always stop to give him money, a beer, fried chicken or a salad \u2014 sometimes home-cooked, Springs said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still feel his presence,\u201d Springs said.<\/p>\n

Standing feet away from the spot where Manigault fell down and never got up, he joined his hands Olivia Henderson\u2019s, and they prayed.<\/p>\n

Read more Mecklenburg County leaders weigh taking a stance on controversial data centers<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Derrick Manigault had a fake gun and was shot outside Jakob's Food Mart in Gastonia; family and civil rights lawyers question officers and the investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nQuestions loom over NC corner store where police killed man who had fake gun - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=419\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Questions loom over NC corner store where police killed man who had fake gun - 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