CHARLOTTE — Friends and neighbors in southeast Charlotte gathered over the weekend to remember a man who died in a shooting.
Police said shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday, they were called to the Gladedale Apartments on Old Providence Road. When they arrived, they found Gerald McQueary, 43, who had been shot.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said the victim died at the hospital.
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The next day, community members held a small memorial for McQueary.
“It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense,” said Lorenzo Steele, a friend of five years. “We hurt. The community is hurt.”
They told Channel 9′s Glenn Counts that McQueary had lived in the area for more than 20 years. Jermisha, a close friend of McQueary’s, said she looked at him as a brother.
“He was the life of the party. He was just his own man, you know. He was a light to everybody. He didn’t bother nobody, he wasn’t trying to do harm to nobody,” she said. “My brother was a good person -- man he was a good person.”
The Gladedale Apartments is a quiet public housing community, but that peace was shattered Saturday night by the gunshots. Police went by late Sunday afternoon to reassure residents that their community was safe.
Police have not yet said what led up to the shooting.
Another shooting, same complex
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Just two days after McQueary’s death, police said someone fired shots into the apartment where his family lives.
Channel 9’s Hannah Goetz spoke with residents who are worried about their own safety. They said crime has picked up since the fall.
According to a police report, McQueary’s home was shot into on Tuesday. Neighbors told Goetz his mother lives there.
Police said no one was injured in that shooting, but a bullet was found in the headboard of the bed. They said they don’t have a known motive.
No further information was released.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
VIDEO: CMPD conducts homicide investigation in west Charlotte
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