(Queen City News) – A 4-year-old kid was cruelly shot and murdered inside his home near Steele Creek early Wednesday morning, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police searched a location just minutes away, arresting at least one suspect.
SWAT teams and scores of police cars encircled the Steele Creek subdivision on Rivergate Parkway and Duval Drive.
A law enforcement source stated that an arrest was made in connection with the investigation on Duval Drive, but CMPD has not formally acknowledged this, nor has it been determined whether the shooting and killing of a 4-year-old kid earlier in the day on Cigar Court is related.
The neighbors on Cigar Court were startled awake early Wednesday morning.
“Around 6 a.m., I awoke to rapid fire, about 5-6 shots rang out,” claimed Brandon Flowers, a Cigar Court neighbor.
“I heard the gunshots, and I rolled over and called 911; it was about 6:01, and I told my daughter, ‘Get down, get down, somebody’s shooting,'” said Amy, another neighbor who did not want to reveal her last name.
“She (my daughter) was visibly worried she could see the presence of the police,” Amy informed me.
According to CMPD, the suspect was attempting to steal a black Dodge Charger in the Roxborough II area when they were confronted. According to authorities, the man then began shooting into a home, hitting and killing a 4-year-old boy.
“It’s tragic and it’s tragic that a baby was asleep in their own home and then they’re struck, that’s the part that you just can’t fathom,” Amy said me.
Neighbors are devastated by the loss of the small boy.
“To have this happen when he should have been getting up, going to school is just unreal,” says Flowers.
Flowers lives next door to the victims’ family.
He said the 4-year-old’s mother died in January, and the youngster and other children moved in with family to the residence where the boy was killed.
“That’s devastating, you come to steal a car, OK, take the car, you leave but to turn around and start shooting at a house and to hit a 4-year-old, it’s just unbelievable, there’s no explanation,” says Flowers.
According to police, the 4-year-old lived at a different residence on Cigar Court than the owner of the stolen car. CMPD stated that they believe the firing into the home was purposeful.
Heavy police presence
By Wednesday afternoon, police had crowded another neighborhood approximately 2.5 miles away, near Rivergate Parkway, but it was unclear whether this was related to the shooting.
The situation on Rivergate prompted a large police presence, with roads briefly closed and K-9 units deployed as investigators attempted to trace down leads in real time.
“There is police activity in the 16000 block of Duval Drive.” Please stay away from the area,” CMPD said Wednesday afternoon.
The York County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina is also supporting CMPD in this inquiry.
Queen City News crews saw at least one person arrested.
