Warrants shed light on murder inside uptown high-rise apartment building

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are investigating after a man was found shot to death Saturday morning inside Skyhouse Apartments, an uptown high-rise building.

The shooting happened just before 3 a.m. at the Skyhouse Apartments on North Church Street.

When officers got to the apartment complex, they found 24-year-old Michael Camacho with a gunshot wound on the 20th floor near an elevator. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

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Police said Camacho did not live in the building and are trying to determine why he was there.

Police obtained a search warrant for an apartment and a car connected to Drequan Carter, 26, who does not live at Skyhouse.

A source told Channel 9's Glenn Counts after the murder that they thought it was drug-related and that some witnesses were not cooperating.

Police found the door to Apartment 2016 open with “pry marks on the door frame,” according to the warrant.

Authorities also found “two separate caliber shell casings.”

Inside the apartment, they found a “large quantity of controlled substances.”

Another person with a gunshot wound showed up at Novant Presbyterian at about the same time of the shooting at Skyhouse, warrants said.

The victim arrived at the hospital in a black Cadillac Escalade.

Detectives reviewed surveillance video and determined Carter had been at Skyhouse and took the person with the gunshot wound to the hospital.

Video also showed Carter leaving Skyhouse with a tote bag after the murder, documents said.

Police found 3.2 pounds of pot in the same tote bag inside the Cadillac.

“Detectives determined Carter had independent access by means of a key fob,” the warrant stated.

No arrests have been made.

Residents at the Skyhouse Apartments who spoke with Channel 9 said the fact that the suspected shooter is still out there has them worried.

"It means that I'm not living in a place quite as safe as I thought," resident Wolfe Magnus said. "Means that someone is toting some kind of firepower, could be anyone, but it's kind of the cost of city life as well."

Residents told Channel 9's Elsa Gillis there is security at the complex, and residents have had to undergo background checks to live there, but they see too many people come and go who don't live there.

"I think a big part of it is we never really know who is on our building. We do a background check and application to live here, but they have a lot of the apartments rented out for Airbnbs, so you never really know who is staying on your floor," said resident Gary Owens.

A representative for Skyhouse Uptown said they have heard of some concerns from residents and they are looking into them, but did not detail what exactly the concerns were.

"We would love to know the full details for our safety because we know the guy hasn’t been arrested," said resident Galina Voytenko.

This is an ongoing investigation. Check back with wsoctv.com for more information. 

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