Charlotte Bank of America worker killed outside office recalled as ‘ray of sunshine’
Ina Michelle Lang loved to cook meals with her husband every night. She loved dogs and flowers, too. “To know Ina was to love Ina,” one person wrote on social media.
The 50-year-old longtime Bank of America employee was fatally shot at about 10:30 a.m. Friday while taking a break in the parking lot of the northwest Charlotte branch at 9715 Callabridge Court. Sam’on Andrew Smith, 22, was arrested Saturday and charged with first degree murder by Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department.
He was being held Monday without bond. A police affidavit did not say why authorities believe Smith shot Lang, records show.
For Lang’s stepdaughter, 19-year-old Elliana Lang, Ina Lang was simply “mom.”
“Ina never treated me like a stepdaughter,” Ellianna Lang told the Observer on Monday. “I was blessed to be loved by someone like Ina.”
Elliana, who recently moved to Ohio, learned about Lang’s death from her stepsister. Her father, Mike Lang, had been notified by a co-worker’s text message that his wife had been shot.
He immediately drove to the scene, less than 10 minutes from their Charlotte home, to find a crime scene already established, Ellianna Lang said. “My dad is beyond devastated,” Ellianna Lang said. “It’s really hard to express that. We are all just a mess.”
Ina Lang was a ‘ray of sunshine’
The love story between Lang and her husband was “one for the ages,” Ellianna Lang said.
They first met in Florida when they were both 13, then reconnected later in life, marrying in March 2018. The couple had five children between them, ranging in age from 16 to the early 20s.
Ellianna Lang likened her parents’ relationship to a romance movie, “everything that someone could ever want.”
The couple loved to cook together every night. Just last month, her stepmother offered to pay for her plane ticket so Ellianna could return to Charlotte for her birthday this month with a promise to make a batch of her favorite empanadas.
She was “a ray of sunshine,” Ellianna Lang said.
Slain Bank of America worker built relationships in the community
The family has received an outpouring of support from friends and bank customers, Ellianna Lang said.
She has received messages and seen many posts on social media praising Ina Lang, and describing her as an “authentic, polite woman” who helped people with their banking needs.
Lisa Lynch Clarke said she’s been a customer of the Callabridge Court bank branch for 30 years. For about half of that time, she’s known Ina Lang.
“She was just someone that I knew for a long time and had a banking relationship with,” Clarke said. “She was kind and good to customers.”
The two women may have only talked for a couple of minutes at a time during bank visits, but Clarke was fond of Lang. She patiently helped Clarke’s elderly parents. When they both passed away, Lang helped Clarke and her brother settle their parent’s estate.
“She was very kind. She knew who we were; we shared family stories,” Clarke said. “She always had a smile on her face and (was) willing to solve any problem.”
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of our Bank of America teammates. Our thoughts and condolences are with her family and friends,” the Charlotte-based bank said in a statement Monday to The Charlotte Observer. The bank did not answer questions about how long Lang worked at Bank of America or what her job was.
Clarke, who grew up in the area, now lives about six miles from the bank. She called Lang’s death “senseless.”
“I was praying that it wasn’t, but it was her,” Clarke said. “It is completely disturbing to me that something like this can happen where we live, and it needs to stop.”
Remembering Ina Lang
A GoFundMe online fundraiser has been organized to help the family. The fundraiser had raised $3,000 as of 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9. Funeral arrangements are incomplete.
The fundraising page said: “We will always remember Ina as one of the strongest employees we’ve worked with and she treated our team as a family. She brought a motherly spirit to our team and will always be remembered as someone that never missed an opportunity to give, and having a heart bigger than she knew what to do with.”
“If she was that nice at work, I can’t even begin to describe what she was to our family,” Ellianna Lang added. “She was very humble, down to earth, you know. Just a sweet old lady, as she would say.”
