Two Asheville officers remain on leave after fatal South Asheville shooting

Two Asheville Police Department officers stayed on administrative leave Friday while the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation continued its review of the April 21 shooting in South Asheville that left James Jones dead and one officer injured.

Police spokesperson Rick Rice said the officers will remain on leave until the SBI finishes its inquiry, and their work status will change after that. The case is still in the review stage, with the state agency leading the investigation under Asheville Police Department protocol.

The shooting began around 9:45 p.m. on April 21 after officers responded to a report of a man with a gun at a business on Hendersonville Road. Early reports placed the scene at 1987 Hendersonville Road, 1978 Hendersonville Road, or in the 1900 block. As officers approached the entrance, Jones fired through a glass door or window, according to multiple reports. Officers returned fire, struck Jones and later transported him to Mission Hospital, where he died.

One officer was hit by broken glass and suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Reports also said Jones had been moving from storefront to storefront and behaving erratically before officers arrived, a detail that helped explain why the call drew an immediate police response in the South Asheville business corridor.

The next major decision point comes when the SBI completes its inquiry. That review will shape the final account of what happened, whether departmental policy was followed and when Asheville Police Department moves the officers off leave and into a new work status. For Buncombe County residents, the central question now is whether the process is moving at a normal pace or settling into a prolonged wait for answers.

Asheville Police says it is a CALEA-accredited agency, and its public records portal makes incident and crash reports after Jan. 1, 2003 available for download, though not every report is posted online. That leaves the state investigation as the key public step still in motion as the city waits for a formal resolution.