Man charged in Raleigh police officer's shooting pleads guilty to federal crimes

A Henderson man charged with shooting a Raleigh police officer almost three years ago pleaded guilty Thursday to federal offenses.

Posted 10:24 p.m. Oct 7, 2021 — Updated 5:54 p.m. Oct 8, 2021

Matthew Burns

, WRAL.com senior producer/politics editor

NEW BERN, N.C. — A Henderson man charged with shooting a Raleigh police officer almost three years ago pleaded guilty Thursday to federal offenses.

Cedric Jamal Kearney, 26, was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to carjacking, use of a firearm in a crime of violence and possession of a stolen firearm. Only the stolen firearm charge was in connection with the Jan. 9, 2019, shooting of Officer Charles Ainsworth, however.

Ainsworth was following up on a report that a car stolen at gunpoint five days earlier had been spotted in southwest Raleigh when he was shot several times, including in the neck.

Kearney was apprehended about a half-mile from the shooting scene after an intense manhunt. Police K-9s tracked him to a storage shed after he accidentally locked himself inside and couldn't get out.

During questioning by investigators, Kearney admitted that he and his girlfriend used a dating app to lure a man, and Kearney stole the man's Dodge Dart, cellphone and wallet by threatening him with a gun, according to applications for warrants to search Kearney's cellphone, the Dart and the girlfriend's cellphone.

The federal carjacking and using a gun in a crime of violence charges were linked to that incident, according to federal court records.

Kearney also admitted to investigators that he had broken into a home in Holly Springs hours before Ainsworth was shot and had stolen several guns and other items, according to the warrant applications.

Kearney still faces state charges of attempted murder, two counts of assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm and possession of a stolen firearm in connection with Ainsworth's shooting, according to court records.

“Today was a good day for both the Ainsworth family and the justice system," Acting U.S. Attorney G. Norman Acker III said in a statement. "The court sent a very clear message that these type of assaults on law enforcement simply will not be tolerated."

Ainsworth spent three months in the hospital and returned to active duty with the Raleigh Police Department a year after he was shot.

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