Two teens left a party before random shootings across Charlotte, warrants reveal
The teens arrested in a random shooting spree reportedly left a party to drive around the city and shoot at people, according to a police interview with the 16-year-old accused of being involved in the shootings that killed one and injured others with a stolen gun in Charlotte.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers arrested him and Carlos Roberto-Diaz, 18, on Thursday. While detained, the 16-year-old agreed to be interviewed without parents present, according to details in court records.
During that interview, according to a warrant affidavit, the 16-year-old “admitted that he and Carlos shot at people” after leaving the party in Lincoln Heights, a neighborhood a few miles north of uptown.
The 16-year-old’s name has not been released because he’s charged in juvenile court.
Random Charlotte shootings
In Lincoln Heights at about 1 a.m. Tuesday, someone shot at two drivers, a bicyclist and a group of people outside a home. In southwest Charlotte’s Steele Creek neighborhood, about 10 miles from the other shootings, the teens are accused of shooting another bicyclist.
Mustaffa Muhammad, a 58-year-old man, died when someone shot into the car he was in, according to court records.
The 16-year-old was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and having a gun as a minor. He was also charged with having a stolen gun.
Roberto-Diaz has two open cases related to the shooting. One charges him with shooting into a home and attempted first-degree murder. The other charges him with felony conspiracy to commit murder, assault with a deadly weapon, five counts of attempted murder and two counts each of shooting into an occupied vehicle and a dwelling.
In the Mecklenburg County Courthouse on Friday, a judge set a $100,000 bond for shooting into a home, and no bond has been allowed for Roberto-Diaz on the murder charge.
According to the arrest affidavit, police arrested the 16-year-old after stopping a 2011 Honda Accord that matched descriptions of the vehicle shots were fired out of.
Deputy Police Chief Tonya Arrington said last week that police believe the 16-year-old suspect was looking for other random victims to shoot when an officer spotted the teen exhibiting “suspicious behavior” early Thursday and stopped his car.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
