CMPD investigating 3 homicides during violent Mother's Day weekend

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In less than 24 hours Saturday, Charlotte police were left to investigate three homicide scenes, including two shootings, and a stabbing, marking the worst of the year so far.

Around 1:45 a.m., officers responded to a deadly stabbing on Quail Street in west Charlotte.

Officials later identified the victim as 19-year-old Skyler Riker.

Hours later, on Magnasco Lane, also in west Charlotte, police said Nmateen Doe was driving a car when he was shot. He then crashed.

Police charged Deion Brevard, 23, with Doe's murder on Monday.

“It's like a dream to me, you know,” Cecilia Doe said standing in the door to her home in west Charlotte Monday.

But it is not the kind of dream she had in mind when she moved to Charlotte with her family from Liberia almost 19 years ago.

Cecilia’s dream became a nightmare early Saturday morning when Nmateen’s girlfriend called with the worst kind of news.

She called me crying that he got shot,” Cecilia said.

Investigators said neither crime was a random act of violence.

By 4 p.m. Saturday, CMPD responded to the third homicide of the day.

Officers found Jamale Caple, 24, suffering from a gunshot wound on John Penn Circle, in an apartment community parking lot.

Caple was pronounced dead at the scene.

The violent streak was the worst of the year in Charlotte since Labor Day weekend, which ended with twelve people shot, and five killed, including 7-year-old Kevin Rodas.

Non-profit organizer Judy Williams, of Mothers of Murdered Offspring (MOMO) has worked to comfort grieving families in Charlotte for more than two decades. Over the years, Williams compiled a memorial board, donning the faces of hundreds of victims.

"Countless. I'm afraid to count them," she said. "That would be horrifying."

"This should be a time when they're out enjoying, celebrating being a mother, you bringing them into the world," Williams said. "Then you're planning a funeral."

CMPD Chief Kerr Putney told Channel 9 that one of the homicides looked to be a case of self-defense. He said detectives identified a suspect in one of the other deaths but have not yet made an arrest and that they are still working through tips and evidence in the third case.

Putney would not specify which cases he was talking about though.

The three murders bring the city’s total for the year to 18, and Putney spoke to Channel 9 Monday morning about the impact that the violence is having on the community.

"We can always talk about numbers, but the important thing is we have three families who are suffering right now, so we are just (trying to bring) closure to those families."

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