CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department provided clarity Wednesday that identified for the first time that a deadly shooting that happened in Charlotte's South End neighborhood late Monday night was a murder-suicide.
CMPD said they responded to a reported shooting along West Summit Avenue, near South Tryon Street, late Monday evening. Police said the victims were getting into a vehicle outside the Vinyl restaurant when a red vehicle pulled in front. The suspect, later identified as 33-year-old Elie Hugo Noel, exited the red vehicle and fired shots at the victims.
One of the victims, identified as 23-year-old Dionyah Thompson, died as a result of the shooting. Police identified Thompson as Noel's ex-girlfriend.
Police said Noel then took his own life.
If you or a loved one are facing thoughts of suicide or self-harm, there is help readily available. You can call Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat with them online. There are also resources in North Carolina available here and in South Carolina available here.
The man who had exited the restaurant with Thompson suffered minor injured in the shooting. Police said the man, whose name was not publically released, was on a date with Thompson.
Clarification from police provided Wednesday identified the deceased as the alleged shooter, Noel, and not the man who was on the date with Thompson.
A bar manager at Vinyl said he wasn't even aware of what was going on until some employees told him about a commotion outside the building.
"A customer who was on the patio had seen it," he said. "They came in in a shock and a panicked state saying somebody had gotten shot and some of my bar staff grabbed me from my office and I dialed 911."
"As far as I'm aware, everything was good. We're a pretty casual place," the manager said. "Nobody expected anything to happen. It was the night before Valentine's Day. Nobody expects anything to happen."
This shooting comes after a violent day in the Queen City on Sunday when four shootings were reported across the city. Two of these resulted in additional deaths: one was an accidental death involving a teen and the other is a homicide, according to police. The victims survived the other two shootings but suffered life-threatening injuries.