CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The homicide rate in Charlotte continues to climb as the Queen City sees more violence on its streets.
So far this year, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department has investigated 29 homicides, including one on Friday morning.
CMPD was called after a person was hit by a car, but officers discovered the man had injuries before the crash that led to his death turning this crash investigation into a homicide investigation. This was one of several homicides this week.
CMPD called it a very tragic week of violence in Charlotte. The agency is looking into the death of 8 people over the last week, calling this high number of violent crimes an anomaly and not a trend they want to see continue.
Meanwhile, for some community members, this violence does not feel so uncommon.
“The gun violence that is happening in the community, is becoming … I hate to use the word, but normal,” Charlotte resident Will Adams said. “But you expect to turn on the news and see that someone has been killed or murdered."
It’s an unpleasant series of events: A shooting, red and blue lights, crime tape up, and another loss of life.
Over the last seven days, eight people have been killed in Charlotte leading to 29 homicides so far this year. That’s up by seven from one year ago.
“It’s a difficult start to the year, and we have a lot of work to do and hopefully this trend does not define the rest of the year for us,” CMPD Lt. Kevin Pietrus said.
The agency is actively working to reduce homicides by investigating open cases and trying to prevent new ones.
A man wanted in a deadly west Charlotte shooting and an attempted kidnapping Thursday night was taken into custody Friday morning after returning back to the scene of the crime – where officers were on the lookout.
Despite it being a violent week, CMPD said it may have prevented another homicide with this arrest. It’s giving some community members a sigh of relief hoping more can be done to break this cycle.
Adams lost his son to gun violence. It’s a loss that pushed him to become an activist. He said crimes like these are becoming a sad reality in many communities and he wants to change it.
“We have lost the sense of being our neighbors, neighbors, neighbors,” Adams said. “When I hear, someone was killed by gun violence, it comes back to me because my son was murdered.”
Adams’ son took his last breath in 2008 when he was only 15 years old.
“It gets easier to deal with throughout the days,” Adams said. “But it’s still hard, that was my son … that was my junior.”
He deals with his pain by helping families with the same grief heal and is standing strong in his faith.
“Lean on God and learn that there are better days coming,” Adams said. “But there’s a process because you still have to go through holidays, and birthdays without them, and that is what I’m preparing them for.”
Adams says losing a loved one to gun violence impacts more than one household. It hurts families, schools, communities and beyond.
The father turned activist is searching for answers to this gun violence plaguing communities and even looking to the man behind his own son’s death.
“Find out what was his mindset, what could we as a community have done to save him,” he said. “I know he killed my son, but he threw his life away too.”
He is calling on folks to find different ways to solve their problems and put the guns away. He says more resources, jobs, education, and youth programs also go a long way.
“This day of time… it is so hard ... $5 to buy a loaf of bread,” Adams said. “When the pressure of life gets to you, people want to look and do different things to I guess ease the pain, but it just creates more pain.”
It takes a village to raise a child, a mentality Adams said is missing in today’s communities.
“I just feel like, if us, as people get involved, we can help, but if we sit around and don’t do anything then it will get worse,” said Adams, who adds this is more than a police problem and if communities come together and commit to fighting gun violence more progress can be made.
Contact Jesse Pierre at jpierrepet@wcnc.com or follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.