Man points toy gun at deputies, begs to be shot

KANNAPOLIS — A Kannapolis man pointed an Airsoft pistol at a Rowan
County deputy Sunday afternoon and threatened to shoot the officer if he
did not kill him.

According to the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office, 56-year-old Michael
Harrison was arrested in his 1303 Stone Ave. yard after deputies
negotiated with him to place the believed-to-be pistol on the ground.
Airsoft guns look like real weapons, but shoot airsoft pellets or airsoft BBs.

Harrison and his wife, 47-year-old Sarah Harrison, got into a domestic
argument earlier that day, the report said, and Michael Harrison choked
her and threw her across the living room couch.

The report said their 16-year-old son intervened in the fight and
Michael Harrison left the property in one of the family’s vehicles.
As Deputy M.L. Shrewsbury took statements from Sarah Harrison and her
son at the house about 1:25 p.m., Michael Harrison returned to the home
with an Airsoft handgun and pointed it at the officer.

The deputy took cover behind his patrol car with his weapon drawn and asked the man to lower his weapon.

The man begged the officer to shoot him and, at times, put the Airsoft gun to his head.
Deputies took the man in to custody after negotiating with him to drop his (airsoft) weapon in the yard.

As Michael Harrison was being cuffed, Shrewsbury found a small razor in his possession and a cut mark along his right wrist.

Michael Harrison was transported to the Magistrate’s Office and charged
with assault by strangulation and assault on a law enforcement officer
with a firearm.

While being processed at the office, Michael Harrison withdrew a “broken
crack pipe,” the report said, and began trying to cut his left wrist
with a fragment of the smoking device.

EMS was called and the man was treated at the scene and taken to the Rowan County Detention Center.

“Officer Shrewsbury acted very professionally and used a lot of
restraint especially with having the weapon pointed at him,” Rowan
County Sheriff’s Office spokesman John Sifford said. “Had Officer
Shrewsbury not exhibited that restraint, it could have been very
different.”

Michael Harrison was in jail on Monday with no bond.