Video footage released Wednesday shows nearly 150 shots were fired into a North Carolina home that killed a three-year-old boy and injured a four-year-old girl, according to a press release from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD).
Shooters opened fire at a home in the 2400 block of Richard Rozzell Drive late Tuesday night. Three-year-old Asiah Figueroa was shot in his home as he slept, according to a press release from the CMPD.
Homicide detectives have gathered this video evidence of the shooting. They are sharing it in hopes someone in the community recognizes one of the vehicles or suspects. #clt #cltnews pic.twitter.com/8erwsQwr0K
— CMPD News (@CMPD) September 8, 2021
Figueroa’s four-year-old sister was “grazed” by gunfire but is expected to survive. “I don’t know why this happened, and I don’t know why this is going on, why the world can’t get together and just love one another,” Susie Whitley, Figueroa’s great-grandmother, told WCNC Charlotte. “He was only three, hadn’t lived that long a life, and he was just taken away.”
Police said they believe the suspects are students at three high schools throughout the area: Hopewell High School, North Mecklenburg, and Chambers (Vance) High School. (RELATED: 3 Children Shot, 1 Fatally, In Separate Drive-By Incidents)
“What is happening can be described as nothing short of a community in crisis,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Superintendent Earnest Winston told WCNC.
“The time is now for us to join together to help address the underlying causes of this violence while at the same time getting guns and violent offenders off the streets. We must do all we can to divert our youth before further incidents result in injury and death and before they act in ways that derail their futures.”
Winston added that the school has “reinstituted random screenings in our schools to discourage students from bringing weapons to our facilities and to find weapons before they can cause injury.”
“We are working with community organizations on intervention programs and soon will share specifics. We encourage everyone to consider how you can contribute to a community that addresses pain and suffering and deescalates the current crisis,” he concluded.