Charges dismissed against former N.C. officer in fatal OIS

Ex-Greensboro officer Matthew Edward Hamilton stated he saw an object in the hand of a man wanted on firearms charges when he fired the fatal shot

February 02, 2026 10:58 AM

By Susie C. Spear
News & Record, Greensboro, N.C.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A Guilford County court dismissed manslaughter charges against former Greensboro police officer Matthew Edward Hamilton on Friday, according to court documents.

Hamilton had been on trial since Jan. 12 for the November 2021 shooting death of Joseph Lopez of Greensboro.

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Superior Court Judge David Hall presided over the case that had been expected to extend through this week before winter weather closed the court early this week.

Comment from the Guilford County District Attorney’s Office was not immediately available. A call to Hamilton’s attorney Michael Grace Sr. of Winston-Salem was not immediately returned.

Hamilton was part of a group of officers who searched for Lopez at a home on Cloverdale Drive in Greensboro in 2021. Lopez was wanted for multiple charges of possession of a firearm by a felon and a charge of assault inflicting serious injury.

When Lopez refused Hamilton’s command to come out of a dark shed, Hamilton released a K-9 into the shed and then fired a shot that killed Lopez.

Hamilton said in 2021 just after the incident, that he had seen something in Lopez’s hand. However, investigators determined Lopez was unarmed.

The trial came nearly four years after Hamilton was indicted on the manslaughter charge and fired from the department in June 2022.

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