Police identify man found shot to death on Charlotte trail

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Police have identified a 19-year-old man who was found dead Friday morning near a northeast Charlotte park that is usually filled with families and children.

Officers responded around 9:49 a.m. to the 9100 block of Newell Baptist Church Road, off Old Concord Road, where they found Damien Alonzo Mackins II with a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene, officials with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said.

He was found in a wooded area near three churches, Dorothy J. Vaughan Academy of Technology, and Newell Neighborhood Park.

"You know you try to raise your family in a safe environment and then when it hits this close to home it's concerning," neighbor Jackie Davis said.

One neighbor who didn't want to show her face told Channel 9 she thought she heard gunshots Thursday night.

"We heard about three shots, and I wasn't sure it was gunshots," she said. "To find out today that someone was killed, it's horrible, and it's right in your backyard."

CMPD Maj. Mike Campagna said it's very early in the investigation.

"It's a very slow process now because we have such little information. We don't know exactly where the crime happened at this point, we don't know how big the crime scene should be," Campagna said.

Police said that leads them to believe people in the area are in danger. No arrests have been made.

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