CHARLOTTE, N.C. — According to CMPD, two teenagers went on a shooting spree across Charlotte last Tuesday, killing a man and injuring others.
Most of the victims were in or near Lincoln Heights. The neighborhood is now working to heal as many hope to move on from violence.
Lincoln Heights is a neighborhood off of Beatties Ford Road and is no stranger to violent crime.
"I've had members of my neighborhood who've had to move because their houses were shot into several times and they have kids there," Trilby Meeks, President of the Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Association, said.
When Meeks heard there was a shooting spree in her neighborhood, she was saddened but not entirely shocked. "Here we go again," she thought when she first heard the news without knowing the details.
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Three of the five shootings were in or near Lincoln Heights.
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Meeks is working with neighbors and businesses in the area to unite against criminal activity and instill hope for a safer community.
"When people don't have hope, that's when you have a lot of crime," Meeks said. "We have to build from the inside so that our neighbors will feel like, ‘Okay, we do have a voice. We are important."
Neighborhood leaders are working with CMPD and businesses to reduce crime at specific hot spots in the neighborhood. "What can we do on an individual basis and on a group basis to make this place undesirable for people to loiter, for people to hang around," Meeks asked.
That hope is spreading and inspiring new neighbors like Mavi Minder.
"Me, as a newcomer, I’m gonna do my part to make sure this is a safe and happy environment," Minder told WCNC Charlotte.
Meeks said the key to healing is finding strength in numbers. "Safety is our goal, and we're involving everybody in the community that we possibly can," she said.
Police records show at least one of the two shooting spree suspects lives just a few minutes from where they started attacking people.
It’s unclear why they targeted innocent people in Lincoln Heights and at the two other locations in south Charlotte.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.