Police identify Charlotte's 71st homicide victim of 2017

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police detectives are investigating Charlotte's 71st homicide of 2017.

According to a CMPD statement, officers responded to a call for shots fired at 9:42 p.m. on Sunday in the 4300 block of John Penn Circle.

When officers got to the scene, they found 35-year-old Keith Nmoma suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.

Nmoma was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

The shooting death was the second homicide in Charlotte Sunday. Police said 20-year-old Larry Watson Jr. was shot to death earlier Sunday morning on Trinity Drive in north Charlotte.

There were a total of 69 homicides in Charlotte in 2016.

Police have yet to make arrests in the two latest homicides. The cases are unrelated, but have pushed the homicide total for the city past the mark for all of last year.

Judy Williams with Mothers of Murdered Offspring has heard from family members of many of the victims this year and said something has to change.

“Now that we're here what do we do?” she asked. “We don't stop doing what we've been doing. We got to continue to try to appeal to people to make better decisions. We don't stop praying because we certainly need heavenly help.”

Williams said it's easy to get frustrated by the continuing violence but she is not going to let it slow her or her mission down.

“I don't think words can even describe. A piece of me is gone, and will always be gone,” Patrice Warren said.

Her brother, Jabari Stewart, was the fourth homicide victim of 2017. Nine months later, his death is still unsolved.

Warren and her family are still trying to heal.

“Until you know who, and what and why, that process can't begin,” Warren said.

The investigation is active and ongoing, and CMPD officials are asking anyone with information about the incident to call 704-432-TIPS.

Cox Media Group