Apex man upset after police bullet is fired into his apartment

APEX, N.C. (WTVD) -- Apex Police said that after a suspect rammed a patrol car with his car, tried to hit officers, and ran over an officer's foot, that officer fired his gun twice at the suspect in an apartment complex parking lot.

One bullet hit the suspect's car, but police couldn't find the second bullet.

The next morning, apartment resident Kevin O'Neal found it - in the bedroom closet of his third-floor unit.

"I noticed there was a bunch of debris, a bunch of plaster all over my clothes. And obviously, I said, 'Where did this come from?' So I looked up and that's when I noticed the holes," he told ABC11.

O'Neal heard the commotion from the incident, which police said started just before midnight Friday night.

He said he is glad his 9-year-old son was in a bedroom on the other side of the apartment.

And he noted that he's lucky because the path of the bullet fired by the officer was just a few feet from his bed.

"If he had just turned a little bit one way or the other there's no telling what could have happened," O'Neal said.

He is upset that he had to call police to tell them where the bullet landed.

In a news release, Apex Police wrote, "The night of the shooting, officers made well-being contact checks with residents in the apartment building and attempted to locate the final resting place of the second round fired but were unable to locate the final resting place of the round."

But O'Neal said he thinks police should have checked on all the residents of the building even though he doesn't want to second-guess the officer who fired.

"I hate to put myself in an officer's shoes in what happened. I don't want to Monday-morning quarterback him. Just follow-up. Just a better follow-up after something like that," O'Neal said.

He said he also wants police to review their policies about chases, use of force, and consider more training about situational awareness, especially after an officer apparently fired directly at an occupied building.

"Hopefully the Apex Police Department takes this as a learning lesson," he concluded.

As for the suspect, Apex Police identified him as Aaron Ellison, who had several outstanding warrants for his arrest.

Police said that after Ellison backed into an Apex Police vehicle, he led officers into the Reunion Park Apartment complex and tried to back over the officer who fired the two shots.

Ellison fled in his car and then jumped and ran away. He was taken into custody at his home that night and charged with four counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon on a government official, felony speeding to elude, resist, obstruct and delay and misdemeanor child abuse.

Ellison is being held on $100,000 secured bond.