Cop Killer Suspect Was Pulled For Suspended License

MOORESVILLE, NC — It was a suspicion of a suspended license that prompted Mooresville K9 Officer Jordan Sheldon to pull over the driver who fatally shot him earlier this month before taking his own life, according to investigators.

Sheldon, 32, was shot and killed with a semiautomatic handgun during what police described as a "routine traffic stop" along West Plaza Drive around 10 p.m. May 4. Police later identified the suspect behind the shooting as Michael Yovany Aldana, 28, of Mooresville.

Aldana fled the scene after shooting Sheldon, and was later found dead from a self-inflected gunshot wound in a nearby apartment.

A former girlfriend told investigators that Aldana had recently made suicidal comments that included killing a police officer, Mooresville Police Department said in a statement over the weekend.

According to a police account, Sheldon stopped Aldana around 10:15 p.m. “After obtaining Aldana’s driver’s license and registration for the car, Officer Sheldon returned to his patrol vehicle to check Aldana’s information through the national database while Aldana remained in his vehicle,” MPD said. “After results confirmed Aldana was driving on a suspended license, Officer Sheldon approached Aldana’s vehicle again and engaged in conversation with Aldana who produced additional documentation regarding his driving privileges.”

It was while Sheldon was examining those documents that Aldana fired the handgun at Sheldon before fleeing the scene, MPD said. “Although investigators could not determine a specific motive or provocation for the shooting, interviews with a former girlfriend revealed Aldana had made recent comments of killing himself, and in the process killing a police officer.”

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