CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Memorial Day weekend brought two more homicides, one in east Charlotte and one in north Charlotte, bringing the Queen City's total to 45 for 2021, which is 10 more than this time in 2020.
Last year ended up being the deadliest year in the city's history.
The first homicide happened Saturday near the 3300 block of Biscayne Drive, according to Charlotte Mecklenburg Police. Officers conducting a welfare check and discovered the body of 29-year old Ashly Marie Marquez.
Police have not yet released her cause of death but said two people have been arrested in connection.
Just before 12:30 a.m. Sunday, CMPD responded to a shooting near the 5200 block of Twin Brook Drive. Arriving officers discovered 21-year-old Sheryln Drew shot to death.
These two deaths brought Charlotte’s total homicide count this year to 45 people. By this time in 2020, the city had experienced 35 homicides.
There were 123 homicide deaths in 2020, according to CMPD. WCNC Charlotte’s Ashley Daley spent Monday speaking with Charlotte residents to see if they've noticed the uptick in fatal crimes.
“The problem is [it's] not just Charlotte, but all over ... the temperature is on high now,” Clyde Shade, who was eating brunch at Maria’s Grill in north Charlotte when WCNC Charlotte spoke with him.
Shade said he believes some people lack conflict resolution skills.
“For some reason, we don’t reason anymore," Shade said. "Conflict resolutions are at the tip of a gun now, and we’d rather shoot than talk. We’re not putting the right mindset in our children now about life and the importance of life and how to get along with other people.”
Other residents like Terry Bowser said he believes the spike in crime is partly due to people these days not knowing the consequences of such acts.
“People under the age of 30, they can’t quote to you what will happen if you commit certain crimes,” Bowser shared.
He believes consequences need to stick.
“You hear about a person that commits a crime, and then they get arrested, and we never hear of them anymore until they commit another crime, and then when they get a rap sheet of 13, 14 crimes, we hear about them again," Bowser said.
Charlotte author and podcast host Harvey Brooks, who has spent years talking about relationships, said everyone has the ability to hate, but in order to slow crime, people must make the choice to love instead.
“Love is a choice, not based on what you’re feeling," Brooks shared. "It’s based on what is right, making the right choice.”
To love and to respect: Two lessons they all agree could help shape Charlotte’s future generations and possibly decrease crime in the area.
“You could be a minister, you’re not respected; you could be a father, you’re not respected; you could be a mother, you’re not respected; you could be a child, not respected; school teacher, not respected; there’s just no respect,” Bowser expressed.
To get there, Bowser said he believes city officials also need to do their part.
“I think as a city, there’s some demographics in the city we have put aside and some we support, and until we become one city, you going to have this," Bowser said.
Contact Ashley Daley at adaley@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.