Police shoot and kill an unarmed car accident victim

Police in North Carolina shot and killed a man running toward them Saturday morning -- but he may have just been looking for help after a car wreck.

Officers responded to a "breaking and entering" 911 call at a home in Charlotte. The homeowner told dispatchers that a man had been knocking on her door repeatedly. Police say that when they got to the scene, a man matching the caller's description ran toward them. One of the officers fired his stun gun, but it was "unsuccessful." Another officer then opened fire, police said. Jonathan Ferrell died at the scene. He was shot several times.

He was unarmed. Police now believe Ferrell was seeking assistance after crashing his car. "It was a pretty serious accident," Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Monroe told CNN affiliate WSOC. The crash was so severe that authorities now believe Ferrell had to climb out of the back window, another affiliate WBTV reported.

He ran to the closest house for help. The woman inside thought it was her husband. "To her surprise, it was an individual that she did not know or recognize," Monroe told WBTV. "She immediately closed the door, hit her panic alarm, called 911." The man stood outside and "continued to attempt to gain the attention of the homeowner," a police statement said.

Police have charged Officer Randall Kerrick with voluntary manslaughter -- a felony. He turned himself in Saturday afternoon and was being held early Sunday on a $50,000 bond. There were three officers at the scene, but Kerrick was the only one to use a gun. He fired several times, police said.