CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A 17-year-old was arrested Wednesday after a shooting last month took the life of 14-year-old Terreon Izavier Geter in north Charlotte, CMPD said.
The shooting happened around 1:30 p.m. on June 30 near the Busy Arcade inside a strip mall on Beatties Ford Road.
Kevin Zachery Smith was charged with murder and larceny of a firearm.
Police said a Mecklenburg County sheriff’s deputy was working off-duty nearby and heard the gunshots. The deputy quickly responded to the scene and called for help.
When officers got there, they found Geter, who had been shot. He was rushed to the hospital, where he later died.
A second shooting victim got into a vehicle to head to the hospital but, instead, stopped at the intersection of Grandin Road and Wesley Heights Way off West Trade Street for help. The victim was then rushed to Atrium Health’s Carolinas Medical Center with injuries. He’s expected to be OK.
Geter’s grandmother, Patricia, told Channel 9′s Ken Lemon that with so much shooting going on in the neighborhood she prays for the shooter that killed her 14-year-old grandson.
She said she doesn’t want the shooter to die the way her grandson died, but she does want justice.
“I’m hurting. I’m trying hard not to show it,” Patricia Geter said.
She said she remembers the last conversation she had with Terreon last week.
”When he left out this door here, walked out and he say, ‘Grandma I love you.‘ I said I love you too Terreon,” she said. “Just a baby, 14 years old.”
She said she’s not sure what happened at the strip mall that day, but she said Terreon was friendly with everyone, maybe the wrong people.
“By him just being nice and kind a lot of people gathered around,” she said. “Everybody’s not your friend.”
She said the violence is senseless.
“Nonsense. I mean who would just shoot you in the back of the head?,” she said.
The loss floored Geter’s family.
“You can’t even walk down the street now without somebody looking over your shoulder,” Terreon’s uncle Curtis Geter said.
Geter’s family wants the shooter to know they can’t hide from what they did.
“I won’t do anything to you, but you will suffer. You will pay,” Patricia Geter said.
— CMPD News (@CMPD) June 30, 2020
Activist Myra Stewart has been trying to turn Beatties Ford Road around for years by working with the youth.
“As a mother, it’s heartbreaking,” Stewart said. “I really don’t even have words.”
Team TruBlue works to curb violence in the community.
“Put the guns down,” said Will Adams with Team TruBlue. “Why are we walking around with the guns anyway?”
Adams said he is disappointed in the recent shootings, but the journey requires patience.
“All we can continue to do is continue to show love and support back into our community,” Adams said. “We have to put hope back into our community.”
After the shooting, officers could be seen placing several evidence markers on the ground inside of the strip mall as they combed the scene.
“It’s frustrating to say the same thing over and over again,” CMPD Maj. Dave Robinson said. “We are here to help preserve life, to keep people safe and the streets safe and when we fall short, that impacts every cop on the street.”
It’s unclear what led to the latest shooting -- the second homicide in north Charlotte in less than 24 hours.
The violence also comes just over a week after four people were killed and several others were hurt in a deadly shooting on Beatties Ford Road. Police are still searching for suspects and a motive after more than 180 rounds were fired into a crowd during a block party.
No additional information has been released.
Check back with wsoctv.com for updates.
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