In a week of seemingly random drive-by shootings that killed one man and hurt two others, two teens were arrested, police in Charlotte, North Carolina, said Thursday.
Five shootings happened between 1 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Deputy Chief Tonya Arrington said at a news conference Tuesday that the shootings seemed to be connected because random shots were fired from a car at other cars or bicycles.
Thursday, police officers who were checking out the shooting scenes saw a strange car with a 16-year-old boy inside it who had a stolen gun.
As of late Thursday, cops said, an 18-year-old man was also arrested after being questioned. There were no other suspects on the loose.
“To be honest, it was good old-fashioned police work.” “Our police officers know what to look for because they are in the right places at the right times,” Arrington said. “It’s just one of those gut instincts that you have sometimes as an officer.”
Arrington said, without giving more details, that the younger suspect planned to keep killing people.
“We have reason to believe that the 16-year-old juvenile intended on continuing his violent crime spree,” she told us. “Thanks to the great work of our officers and detectives, they were able to prevent additional harm to innocent victims.”
The police did not name the younger defendant. Police say he has been turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice and will be charged with first-degree murder.
His name was Carlos Roberto Diaz, and he was 18. On top of that, he will be charged with five counts of attempted murder, two counts of shooting into an occupied car, two counts of shooting into an occupied dwelling, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, police said.
It wasn’t clear Thursday afternoon if Diaz had a lawyer.
The number of guns used was still being looked into by officials. The police did not say who was driving.
The first shooting took place around midnight. Police say 58-year-old Mustaffa Muhammad was shot and killed in a car going north on Statesville Avenue.
A few minutes later, cops were called to the corner of Lasalle Street and Newland Road to find a bicyclist who had been shot at but was not hurt.
A short time later, police said, shots hit a car on Lasalle Street near Interstate 77. Then, a group told cops that they were shot at in the 2100 block of Catherine Simmons Drive. Police said that they found a woman who had been shot while she was inside a nearby home.
In the next shooting, police say a bicyclist was shot and hurt in the 100 block of Hillary Circle in the Steel Creek area. As the police searched the area, they found that a house had been hit by gunshots.
Police have linked three killings to the crime spree, Arrington said.
She said that officials don’t think the shooting spree had anything to do with gangs and that the reason for it is still unknown.
“We’re still asking the same questions — why would two juveniles engage in this type of behavior on random victims?” she pointed out. “You know, it’s one thing when two people, maybe rival gangs or neighborhood gangs, want to kill each other. However, this is… just very strange.”