Charlotte Police Chief Johnny Jennings said Thursday that police had arrested two teenagers in connection with Tuesday’s random shootings from a car at bicyclists, people in cars and others gathered on a Charlotte street. A person in a car was fatally shot during the spree.
“These were brazen crimes — crimes that put our community at risk,” Jennings said. Police said the suspect’s were ages 16 and 18.
News of the arrest allayed fears in the public of a sniper or serial shooter. CMPD first reported the shootings at an afternoon press conference on Tuesday.
After the shootings, police said they increased patrols and offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
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Four shootings early Tuesday occurred near the Lincoln Heights neighborhood about five miles north of uptown. A fifth shooting happened in Steele Creek in southwest Charlotte, about 10 miles from the other shootings.
Here’s a look at those five random shootings police believe were connected:
At 1:05 a.m. Tuesday, a person in a car was fatally shot by someone in another car while traveling outbound in the 3800 block of Statesville Avenue, police said.
Four minutes later, someone shot at a bicyclist near the intersection of Newland Road and Lasalle Street, Arrington said. The gunfire missed the bicyclist.
Officers then came upon a driver who said bullets hit their vehicle as they drove on Lasalle Street near Interstate 77. The driver wasn’t hurt, police said.
At 1:11 a.m., someone in a car fired shots into a group of people standing in the 2100 block of Catherine Simmons Avenue. Shots hit a home, and a woman inside was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries after being shot.
At 1:25 a.m., shots hit a bicyclist in the 100 block of Hilary Circle in the Steele Creek neighborhood. The bicyclist had non-life threatening injuries.
The shootings also were possibly related because of their randomness, proximity to each other, that they happened within a short time period and because bullets were fired from a car, she said.
The series of shootings police believe are connected followed three fatal shootings on Monday that police say weren’t connected to Tuesday’s shootings.
“It’s been a violent 24-hour stretch for the city of Charlotte,” Lt. Crystal Fletcher said at a news conference Tuesday.
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