CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A man has been arrested after he broke into a mother's home Monday and shot her while 6-month-old baby was inside the apartment, police said.
[CMPD: Mother shot, 6-month-old inside apartment during home invasion]
The shooting happened on Wexford Meadows Lane at the Wexford apartments.
Curtis Garyray Kerr, 36, was charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, breaking and entering and damage to property.
Kerr made his first court appearance Friday where he was appointed a public defender.
(Curtis Garyray Kerr)
Police said Kerr forced his way into an apartment and shot the mother, who he didn't know, multiple times.
Neighbors told Channel 9 they're relieve that Kerr is off the streets.
"That's one thing that really got to me, he didn't know her. And said here she is, poor thing got that baby, so it really scared me," neighbor Ruth Lee said.
"Whenever you have kids involved in a traumatic situation, it always plays on your nerves," Gil Allred, with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, said.
Allred is a 26-year veteran of the department. After the shooting, he comforted the child, who is OK. The child’s mother was taken to Carolinas Medical Center with serious injuries, where she is still recovering.
"The fire department couldn't calm the child down, so they handed her to me," Allred said.
Allred has raised three children of his own, so he knew how to calm the infant down.
"We were able to be a part of that horrific scene and that miracle," Allred said.
The gunman had a problem with someone else, but he shot the innocent mother after he kicked the door in, police said.
"In that regard, I took it home last night and explained it to my family, then I tried to go and work out,” Allred said. “(I) couldn't get a good work out in because it just drains you."
It is Allred's last week on the job. He is retiring in three days and feels blessed to have been in the right spot Monday.
"I hope she realizes one day that she was taken care of, not by me, but by The Almighty," Allred said.
After Kerr's appearance, Channel 9 spoke with his family off-camera. They said he is not guilty. They said he wasn't at the apartment complex when it happened and wouldn't do something like this.
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