Man found shot dead in a car as Charlotte’s homicide toll rises to 90, police say
A 25-year-old man found fatally shot Friday night has brought Charlotte’s 2019 homicide toll to 90, twice as many as last year at this time, police said.
Officers found the body of Tydarrien Ford in a car on Custer Street just before 8 p.m., according to a CMPD news release.
That’s off LaSalle Street and near Catherine Simmons Avenue and Beatties Ford Road in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood in north Charlotte.
Police found a second person with a non-fatal gunshot wound in the road on Catherine Simmons Avenue but don’t yet know if the shootings were related. They said they will release the second person’s name after contacting the family.
Anyone with information is asked to call the CMPD homicide unit at 704-432-8477 or Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.
Last year, Charlotte had 46 homicides through Oct. 25 , Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Capt. Brad Koch told The Charlotte Observer on Saturday.
The city hasn’t experienced 100 homicides since 1993, the Observer previously reported.
2nd killing in 24 hours
Friday’s killing was the second in 24 hours in Charlotte.
Late Thursday, police found a man fatally shot in a neighborhood just north of uptown.
On Saturday, police identified him as 29-year-old Mario Witherspoon.
Police found the man in the 1700 block of Rush Wind Drive in the Double Oaks community, the Observer previously reported . That’s northeast of where Interstate 77 and Brookshire Freeway intersect.
Witherspoon was found in the backyard of a home and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
No one has been arrested in that case.
Investigators believe Witherspoon was shot elsewhere in the neighborhood and “ran into the backyard of the home to get help,” according to TV station WSOC.
Rising violence
CMPD has warned of the rising violence all year, Chief Kerr Putney and other top CMPD officials told the Observer in a recent interview
“Unfortunately, as the numbers continue to climb, we seem to be the only ones sounding that alarm,” CMPD Maj. Dave Robinson said.
“And talking about how people work out their differences in a way that’s consistent with our values in this community and that don’t resort to violence and most importantly, bloodshed,” he added.
CMPD’s multi-prong public safety effort includes patrols, homicide detectives, victim advocates and proactive work in the city, often with crisis experts, nonprofit partners and in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to teach children and teens conflict-resolution skills, police officials said.
This story was originally published October 26, 2019 at 12:22 PM.