CMPD desperate for information one year after deadly Labor Day weekend

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Investigators provided Channel 9 with an update Friday morning on a series of shootings that happened on Labor Day weekend last year.

Police called the local media together to make a plea for help in solving a string of murders that really highlighted the violent crime problem in the city a year ago -- and that are still unsolved.

There were a total of five people killed over the Labor Day weekend, including 7-year-old Kevin Rodas, who was attending a birthday party at a home off Nations Ford Road when he was shot in what was clearly a case of mistaken identity.

Past coverage:

• Family grieves 7-year-old killed in Labor Day weekend shooting
• Mother of fatally shot 7-year-old: 'He had so much to live for'
• CMPD makes first arrest in Labor Day weekend slayings
• 1 dead after second shooting near where child was killed

Police said Friday that that case is not related to the others, but that it -- and three others from the Labor Day weekend -- are still wide open.

CMPD Deputy Chief Doug Gallant said that whoever committed the killings is still out there, and could do it again.

“This behavior was callous, it was reckless, and to understand that people like that are out and about on our streets is scary,” said Gallant. “You should be scared for anybody.”

That's why officers are desperate for information that will help them find whoever was responsible for the shootings.

Donald Wheeler has cried every day for almost a year.

“It's been a hard year for me, man,” Wheeler said Friday.

It was Sept. 5 of 2015 when his son Dominique was shot and killed.

Wheeler is still looking for answers.

“Yeah, somebody knows,” Wheeler said. “There were people that were out there. There was a car that got shot up.”

Police believe his son was caught in the middle of a running feud between two groups that exploded into violence that weekend.

“I wish someone would talk because my kid didn't deserve to be dead right now,” he said.

There is a $10,000 reward for information that could lead to an arrest in the shootings -- except the Rodas murder. The reward in that case now stands at $15,000.

Family will remember 7-year-old Kevin Rodas during two vigils Monday night. The first will be at 5 p.m. at Evergreen Cemetery on Central Avenue and the second at 7:30 p.m. at Camp Greene Park on Alleghany Street.

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