Officer Timothy Wayne Whittington, 26, was shot and killed on the morning of July 16, 1985, while responding to a first-degree burglary call in Charlotte, North Carolina. He and his partner had stopped a man matching the suspect’s description at Dupree and Rozzelle Ferry Road after the burglary report from Tennyson Drive; during the encounter the suspect fired a .38 caliber handgun, and Officer Whittington died after being taken to the hospital.

The burglary involved an 82-year-old victim who was stabbed multiple times and had a pistol taken by the suspect before he fled. The suspect, described as a 25-year-old male, was quickly apprehended and later sentenced to 150 years in prison on convictions that included second-degree murder, burglary, and assault with intent to kill. Whittington was a United States Marine Corps veteran and had served with the Charlotte Police Department for three years; he was survived by his wife.

Was anyone in the community at the time able to provide details about the suspect’s actions before the police stop or remember that morning’s events?