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Police identify man shot to death in Charlotte's 21st homicide of 2017

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are investigating the city’s 21st homicide following a deadly shooting overnight in north Charlotte.

Officers said Michael Xavier Morris, 28, was shot around 2:30 a.m. at an apartment on Prospect Drive, near West Sugar Creek Road and Interstate 85. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A witness told police that someone knocked on the door, came in and fired one shot that killed Morris.

Neighbors told Channel 9 that it may have had something to do with an argument in the parking lot earlier in the evening, but detectives have not discussed a motive for the shooting.

"I heard some tumbling going on and I was like, 'Oh Lord, I hope everyone's OK," but after a while police came knocking on the door," neighbor Stacey McConico said.

[IMAGES: Man shot to death at north Charlotte apartment]

Family members said that a woman and her three children were in the apartment at the time of the shooting. Police told Channel 9 that one of those children, a 17-year-old girl, suffered minor injuries but that she'd be OK. It was unclear how she was hurt.

The woman is Morris' fiance.

This is the 21st homicide of the year -- three times as many as Charlotte had at the same time last year -- and CMPD Chief Kerr Putney acknowledged that they are very concerned about the steady rise in violence.

“Our struggle is to get people to understand that we have to be willing to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence,” Putney said. “A lot of the issues that we’re seeing are senseless loss of life, and we're better than that, we've got to be.”

Channel 9 spoke to five men outside of the Classic Cutz barbershop off Sugar Creek Road who call themselves the Dream Team for Peace. The group, lead by Shelton Morris, looks for ways to stop Charlotte's alarming surge of deadly violence.

"It takes the people in this city to change this city," Morris said.

"We know what goes on in our neighborhoods. We know how we feel on a 24/7 basis," said Rayshaun Greene who is a part of the Dream Team for Peace.

But Greene said it will take more than one part of the community to turn the tied and Putney agreed.

"I don't know what's creating a situation where people are so apt to shoot over a small disagreement, but we're struggling with that and we're losing lives over it," Putney said.

Putney said the department will spend the next several days working on strategies to turn the tide.

No arrests have been made.

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