For hours, he fought for his life. Teen becomes Charlotte’s 100th homicide victim.
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A Deadly Year in Charlotte
2019 ended with 107 people in Charlotte killed, the highest number of homicides in a single year for the city since 1993. Charlotte’s homicide rate is the highest it’s been in more than a decade.
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A teenager who fought for his life for hours after being shot became Charlotte’s 100th homicide victim on Tuesday.
Nathaniel Lee Isenhour, 19, died at Atrium Health’s Carolinas Medical Center Tuesday morning, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officials said. He was the son of Cabarrus County sheriff’s Sgt. Marshall Isenhour, Chief Deputy James Bailey confirmed to The Charlotte Observer.
The shooting happened Monday around 10 p.m. at 8640 University City Boulevard, according to information from police.
It’s unclear what led to the shooting. The University City Boulevard shopping center is a busy retail spot close to UNC Charlotte and it has a grocery store, restaurants and a gym.
Someone called 911 to report “shots fired” and when CMPD officers arrived, they found neither a victim nor a shooter, authorities said. Soon after, hospital staff notified police of a gunshot wound victim at Atrium Health University City Hospital. Isenhour was transferred to Carolinas Medical Center Atrium Health with life-threatening injuries, police said. He was pronounced dead at the hospital Tuesday morning.
Police on Tuesday afternoon continued to search for witnesses and did not say if they have a suspect.
The teen’s grandmother said she knew little about what led to Isenhour’s death. The family, she said, calls him Nate.
“He was the one that was the charmer and the giver,” Mary Isenhour, his grandmother, said. “He never let life worry him.”
Mary Isenhour, 72, said that she helped take care of Nate Isenhour and his two brothers when they were growing up. Nate was the middle child and loved to play basketball, ride bicycles and go to the beach, she said.
Even after he grew older, Nate came to visit as often as two or three times a day, she said. Whether it was a washing machine or a piece of furniture, there was nothing too heavy or big he could not help move.
Mary Isenhour said Nate loved to wrestle and won over 100 matches in high school.
He also “played a crucial role” on the 2017 Mount Pleasant High School football team, “as part of one of the most tenacious D’s ever at MP,” team officials tweeted. “Our hearts are heavy today as we mourn the loss of former Tiger Nate Isenhour ... Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Isenhour Family.”
More recently, he was planning to return to college at UNC Pembroke, his grandmother said. He had also just gone on a fishing trip in October with family.
Her grandson wasn’t sure what he wanted to do professionally yet, Mary Isenhour said, but the 19-year-old knew that he wanted to help people.
“I don’t understand why this happened,” she said. “We’re really trying to put the pieces together.”
2019 homicides in Charlotte
The city last saw 100 homicides in 1993.
CMPD Chief Kerr Putney told the Observer in recent interviews that he and his top command have raised the alert all year about rising violence.
Violent crime has increased particularly among teens, who account for many of those charged in the city’s homicides, Putney said.
According to CMPD data, 80% of Charlotte’s homicide victims this year were killed by gunfire. Others were stabbed, beaten or hit by a vehicle.
At least 30 were killed during an argument and 13 more were killed over drugs. Eleven were killed during a domestic dispute, data show.
One-third of this year’s homicide victims knew their killer, according to police data.
Most of the 2019 homicides were spread out in an east-to-west arch over uptown.
But some neighborhoods – and even some streets – saw multiple killings this year.
▪ Eight people were killed on or within the Interstate 277 loop.
▪ Six people were killed just off Interstate 85 near West Sugar Creek Road
▪ Three people were killed on Catherine Simmons Avenue, north of uptown.
In many cases, police said, relatively minor disputes turned into gun violence and murders in Charlotte.
Sometimes it’s a “quick hot temper,” Putney told the Observer. Other times, young adults and teens are pulling the trigger after weeks of back-and-forth arguing both online and in person.
Teaching children and teens how to resolve conflicts without violence is among many ways the department tries proactively to curb crime, Putney said. So is emphasizing mediation and de-escalation, he said.
In many cases of violence, however, those arrested have lengthy criminal histories, and Putney said his officers too often find themselves charging suspects who ultimately never see jail time. Or, they are permitted by the courts and prosecutors to plead guilty to lesser sentences, according to the chief.
In a recent investigation, The Charlotte Observer found that prosecutors in Mecklenburg County are dismissing more than two thirds of gun charges. Reporters examined criminal records of the nearly 300 people charged with murder in the county, finding that more than half of them had prior weapons charges. Of those, the Observer’s investigation found that 30 would have been in prison at the time of the murder had they been convicted in court rather than seen their prior gun charge dismissed.
“We have to be serious about repeat violent offenders in this jurisdiction,” Putney told the Observer this fall. “The system is failing our public in the area of accountability.”
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 3:04 PM.
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