Man shot outside uptown nightclub after unofficial CIAA event

A man was injured in a shooting in a nightclub parking lot in uptown Charlotte Thursday morning.

According to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police, a man showed up to Carolinas Medical Center-Main around 2 a.m. after he was shot in the leg. The man told police that the shooting happened at the Palace Charlotte nightclub on North Caldwell Street, which is located near the Spectrum Center.

Police say a fight started inside the club which then spread into the parking lot. The victim was struck by a stray bullet, officers say.

The victim is expected to be OK.

Officers did not say whether anyone was arrested.

The club was promoting unofficial Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association events, according to its Facebook page.

CMPD said they’re expecting 100,000 people to be in Charlotte for the CIAA tournament.

The department typically boosts police staffing for the annual tournament, but this year CIAA coincides with memorial events for evangelist Billy Graham, whose funeral is Friday.

Major Gerald Smith said all CMPD officers will be working Friday. “We have … three priorities, and they’re all labeled No. 1:” Graham’s funeral, the CIAA tournament and general calls for service.

“We were fortunate enough that these events do not cross paths environmentally or physically, so we believe we are able to deal with the traffic and the event for Billy Graham’s funeral and then switch and move some staff over back to the downtown area where that evening we will see an increase in crowds for the CIAA,” Smith said.

The CIAA tournament began earlier this week. Crowds were expected to arrive on Thursday and stay through the weekend.

Police are hoping the new permitting process will make it easier for officers to know what’s happening where during CIAA.

During CIAA week the past two years, police investigated shootings that didn’t involve official CIAA events. Smith says officers have been doing advance work to try to get a handle on any rivalries that could lead to trouble.

“Our people in our Intelligence Unit do a lot of work in the weeks and months leading up. Any entertainment that is brought in that we know about, we … do a great deal of work to see if there’s any kind of beef going on between entertainers,” Smith said.

This story was originally published March 1, 2018 at 8:08 AM with the headline "Man shot outside uptown nightclub after unofficial CIAA event."