CHARLOTTE — A man was killed and two others were hurt in a shooting in north Charlotte early Wednesday morning.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said it happened just before midnight inside a convenience store on Beatties Ford Road. Police found three men inside the store who had all been shot.
One of the men died at the gas station. The other two were taken to the hospital, according to police.
Juanrique Hall volunteers with the Alternatives to Violence program and is a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board candidate. He told Channel 9′s Jonathan Lowe he has been working with one of the victims for a while now to get on a better path. That victim is in the hospital right now.
Hall said the area hasn’t had a homicide in the area in quite some time, but he still thinks the ATV program is doing a good job there.
“We’re not going to be able to stop all violence and stop all killing,” Hall said. “What we try to do is cut down on the violence and killing and educate the youth about what’s going on. But you’re not going to control everything.”
‘We want it to get better’
Channel 9′s Anthony Kustura spoke with a community advocate, Jacqueline Lewis, who said she is concerned about the violence and people losing their loved ones.
“All of the shooting out here is just getting bad. It’s bad, and I hate that we’re coming up on the holidays, and we don’t want it to get worse. We really don’t. We want it to get better. We want to be able to walk the streets; we want to be able to go out and shop. We want to be able to do these things without worrying or not that we’re getting gunned down, especially in our own community,” Lewis said.
She said she has been working to turn the neighborhood around after losing her son to gun violence.
“We have not had a homicide on Beatties Ford Road within the last few months. We’ve been doing pretty good until tonight. We are trying to get the community together and do better as a community. But to continue to have shootings and people losing their children and their grandchildren, it’s sad,” Lewis explained.
Police said the incident started as an argument that quickly escalated. However, a suspect has not been identified.
They are reviewing surveillance video, as well as speaking with witnesses.
This is a developing story; check back at wsoctv.com for updates.
VIDEO: One shot in east Charlotte grocery store parking lot
©2023 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
