CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One person was killed in a shooting in east Charlotte Tuesday morning, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said.
According to CMPD, officers were called to a reported shooting at the La Casa arcade on East W.T. Harris Boulevard a few minutes before 6 a.m.
Police confirmed the person who was shot was an employee at the arcade. The victim was rushed to a hospital where they later died.
The victim was identified as 51-year-old Askia Toure Abdullah Alkebulan.
"I just want us to get better Charlotte, we have to do better. This is too much,” said Jovona Cameron. She’s lived in this area for years and was surprised to hear what happened.
Police are still searching for the suspect in this shooting, speaking to witnesses and reviewing surveillance video.
"The suspect was an individual who had come to the business and that’s why we're trying to talk to the witnesses as well as review video footage so that we can try to isolate the exact specifics related to the encounter,” said Major Ryan Butler with CMPD.
This is the 99th homicide so far this year; this is the deadliest year in Charlotte since 1993. That is alarming to police.
“There’s not a number of violent crimes where we say that’s okay. We're uncomfortable once we have 1 homicide during the year so we're going to continue to fight and collaborate with the community as much as we have throughout 2019,” said Major Butler.
Community members begging others to stop turning to violence.
“There’s a lot of violence going on in this city. It’s tremendous. And it’s sad to hear because there are other ways to handle things. You're not only hurting that person who dies. You’re hurting their family, you're hurting everybody,” said Cameron.
Police are urging anyone with information to call crime stoppers.
CMPD has not released any suspect information or announced any arrests.
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