Teen arrested in shooting that killed 14-year-old in a north Charlotte home
A teenager has been charged in the shooting death of a 14-year-old Garinger High School student and basketball player, according to police.
On Tuesday, 19-year-old Myhijee Major turned himself in to police, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department wrote in a news release. Major is charged with involuntary manslaughter after Johnnie McClendon, 14, was shot and killed in his home on Sunday.
McClendon was shot in the 400 block of Keswick Avenue — which is across from Camp North End in the Lockwood area between North Graham Street and North Tryon Street — at about 7:40 p.m. Sunday. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools confirmed the victim was a Garinger High School student.
He’d just made the basketball team, said Will Adams, an activist fighting to end gun violence among local youth with his organization TruBlue. It was McClendon’s first step in trying to follow Kyrie Irving’s famed legacy, Adams said.
When Adams visited the house on Keswick Avenue on Sunday, he said he went to shake the hand of McClendon’s father. But the father wouldn’t. He still had his son’s blood in between his fingers.
“Death can be difficult for us to understand, especially when it is sudden,” LeDuan Pratt, Garinger principal, wrote in a statement to families. “...Counselors will be highly visible throughout the building and available to assist with grief counseling.”
Ten minutes before the shooting of McClendon, police found another person shot in east Charlotte on the 7100 block of Snow Lane. Officers pronounced the victim dead at the scene.
Anyone with information on either homicide is asked to call the CMPD Homicide Unit at 704-432-TIPS. Anonymous tips can be offered through Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600 or http://charlottecrimestoppers.com.
This story was originally published December 4, 2023 at 6:48 AM.
