Frustrations mount with lack of leads in Charlotte Labor Day weekend slayings

No connections exist between a spate of violent shootings Labor Day weekend and the recent round-up of 20 suspects allegedly involved in “gang-like” activity in Charlotte, police said Friday.

Authorities also said they’ve grown frustrated with the lack of new information regarding the holiday shootings, leaving the slayings of five people, including a little boy, unsolved.

“Unfortunately, we still need help,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Capt. Cecil Brisbon said about the homicides. “We’ve gotten some additional tips but none of the information that we’ve received has helped and led us to identifying probable suspects. It’s been a very slow process.”

Police have sought the public’s help in finding suspects involved in the outbreak of gunfire that left five dead. Among the victims was 7-year-old Kevin Antonio Calderon Rodas, who was shot to death as he and relatives gathered to celebrate a cousin’s birthday party in a fairly quiet neighborhood.

Other people killed that weekend were Laquanta Franchez Young, 30; James Taylor, 23; Dominique Wheeler, 25; and Elias Izagirre Perez, 30. Twelve people total were shot during one of the deadliest weekends in Charlotte in recent memory.

Crime Stoppers has received 15 tips in the case, but none thus far have resulted in charges in the homicides.

“It’s a little frustrating (considering) the number of victims,” Brisbon said. “Not a lot of smiles right now around the department.”

Police are still processing evidence they’ve recovered from the scenes of the shootings, Brisbon said.

He said investigators don’t believe the killings have any link to the close of a three-month multi-agency operation that netted the arrests of 20 young men whom authorities said belong to two groups engaged in “gang-like” violence since 2014. The rival groups fit the definition of gangs in a “non-traditional sense,” police said Wednesday.

State law defines a gang as a group of three or more people who gather to commit a felony, have a common name or a common identifying sign or symbol. A neighbor in the Sunstone community off Statesville Road, where members of one of the groups grew up and lived, told the Observer that the men called themselves, “the Sunstone Crips.”

“That case and this case don’t mirror or border each other,” Brisbon said.

There’s no reason to believe that the city is experiencing a new or unprecedented spike in gang violence, said Paul Friday, a retired criminologist at UNC Charlotte.

“I don’t know whether it’s a resurgence in gangs because there’s always been gangs,” Friday said. “I know we have an increase in the proliferation of guns, that’s for sure.”

And with the increased availability of firearms comes an increased bravado from the people who use them to commit crimes.

“There’s an attitude among gang members; a tough attitude that’s just gotten tougher,” Friday said.

Brisbon acknowledged that some people in the community might fear retaliation if they disclose information but he said law enforcement aims to protect citizens who submit anonymous tips.

“Any day that goes by where you don’t have enough to solve the case is another day where you’ve got a family member ... out there, still stressing and trying to find the reason why,” Brisbon said. “We haven’t been able to provide the answer yet.”

This story was originally published September 26, 2015 at 4:36 PM with the headline "Frustrations mount with lack of leads in Charlotte Labor Day weekend slayings."