Child shot inside east Charlotte apartment, CMPD says

CHARLOTTE — A child was shot in east Charlotte over the weekend and is in the hospital with serious injuries.

It happened around 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Eastside Flats along Trousdale Drive, near W.T. Harris Boulevard and Albemarle Road.

What happened at that apartment was a gut-wrenching, emotional scene that neighbors don’t think they’ll ever forget.

“So it was a big old ‘boom,’” one neighbor said. “I’m not really sure what happened after that. We weren’t sure if someone fell down the steps.”

The woman was home and heard the gunshot. She said she saw a man running around with the victim, a 3 or 4-year-old. He was clearly panicking.

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Trousdale Dr. assault A minor is in the hospital after an assault, according to CMPD. (WSOC)

“Then we just heard him and the guy screaming, saying, ‘Help me, help me,’” she said. “He said, ‘It was my fault,’ he kept saying, ‘It was my fault, my fault.’”

The neighbor said the child was bleeding profusely. She was thankful that her own children were not around to see it.

“Just seeing that baby’s face like that was just was something I’ll probably never get out of my mind,” she said.

MEDIC said the child was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. A Channel 9 crew saw a man in handcuffs at the scene.

Channel 9′s Glenn Counts learned Saturday’s was the third shooting in the area this month. There are a lot of children in the neighborhood, so the violence leaves many people concerned.

“Everyone is scared, everyone is nervous,” another neighbor said. “We really don’t know what to think because these apartments aren’t a year old.”

Court and jail records say that police arrested a 21-year-old man. He’s been charged with selling or giving a weapon to a minor. A key element of that charge is that a minor gets hold of an unsecured gun and hurts themself.

Police have not said what the man’s relationship is with the victim.

“I don’t want to judge, he looked heartbroken,” neighbors told Counts, adding, “That is going to be hard to get over, something you know you had out for the child to get around.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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