Activist says more needs to be done about violent crime in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE — Family members and friends gathered Thursday night at Renaissance Park in southwest Charlotte to honor the life of Khyre Grier.

He was shot and killed on Sept. 26 along Eastcrest Drive.

“It breaks your heart,” said Kass Otley, a community activist. “I’m tired of doing this and it affects the whole city. We have to do better.”

Earlier in the day, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released its third-quarter crime statistics.

Overall property crime was down 1%.

Violent crime is up 6% with a dramatic increase in homicides.

There have been 83 homicides this year compared to 65 at the same time last year.

“Those are brothers and fathers and mothers and cousins and friends and church members, and we’re losing them at such a rapid rate,” said Lisa Crawford, who operates the group Mothers of Murdered Offspring.

They were at a cemetery on Thursday to remember the life of Judy Williams, who was the founder of MOMO. She died four years ago.

“She would say, ‘We got to do better.’ She would be very disappointed,” Crawford said. “She would be heartbroken for not just the numbers, but every single person behind those numbers.”

Otley believes that what the city has been doing is not working.

She said, “40% of our city budget goes to CMPD and clearly that’s not the answer. We need to take some of the money and put it back into the community and make sure people can eat. People can survive.”

While the number of homicides is up this year, the clearance rate is 70%, which is higher than the national average, CMPD said.

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