Individual Details

Death

A SWAT officer responding to a standoff in the University City area shot and killed what police say was an armed suspect early Saturday. The suspect was identified as 59-year-old Lemuel Rufus Furr III. According to a police report, Furr emerged from a barricaded home with guns pointed in the direction of Charlotte Mecklenburg police officers. After Furr ignored police warnings to drop the weapons, a SWAT officer armed with a rifle shot and killed him, the report stated. The incident began with a call for service at 1:15 a.m. When officers arrived at the home in the 2500 block of Penninger Circle the caller said that he and his father had gotten into an argument and that his father had shot at him and barricaded himself inside the house. The caller was not injured, police said. CMPD spokeswoman Jessica A. Lawrence said SWAT officers contacted Furr by phone several times but failed to convince him to surrender. “…the suspect told the negotiators repeatedly that he was not going to be taken alive,” Lawrence said in a written report. SWAT team members were establishing a perimeter around the home when Furr came outside armed with two handguns and pointed them in the direction of the officers. “The suspect continued to advance in the direction of the officers while pointing the weapons,” Lawrence wrote. “At that time a SWAT officer fired his service rifle at the suspect striking him.” Paramedics pronounced Furr dead at the scene. Homicide detectives are investigating the shooting. A separate investigation is being conducted by detectives with the CMPD Internal Affairs Unit, which will determine whether officers followed CMPD policies and procedures.

Lemuel "Duke" Rufus Furr, III, age 59, died Saturday, July 6, 2013. A native of Charlotte, he was born on September 18, 1953 to Peggy Parker Furr and the late Lemuel Rufus Furr, Jr. He was the proprietor of Furr Realty Company and also owned a short track racing team in which two of his sons drove for him. Mr. Furr was a member of the Charlotte Moose Lodge #1113 and enjoyed golfing and was a NASCAR fan. A funeral to celebrate his life will be held at 2:00PM, Wednesday, July 10, 2013 in The Derita Chapel of McEwen Funeral Service with Pastor Timothy S. Nichols officiating. Interment will follow in Sharon Memorial Park. The family will receive friends from 6:00PM to 8:00PM, Tuesday at The Derita Chapel. In addition to his mother, Mr. Furr is survived by a daughter, Crystal Moody and husband Phillip, of Harrisburg; three sons, Lemuel "Duke" R. Furr, IV, of Concord, David A. Furr, of Charlotte, Ricky D. Rowlette and wife Kelly, of Denver; the mother of his children, Lita Rowlette Scott; a sister, Donna Furr, of Charlotte; two brothers, Donald Furr, of Charlotte, Randy Furr, of Belmont; nine grandchildren, Phillip M. Moody, Lemuel "Duke" Furr, V, Jazmine Furr, Daquan Robinson, Dayana Robinson, Alexis Broadway, David A. Furr, Jr., Destiny Rowlette, Austin Rowlette and loving companion, Wilma Furr.