CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte family who says they don't feel safe after a deadly shooting right outside their front door says their apartment complex will not let them out of their lease early despite concerns over their safety.
Rita Wallace and her family have lived at the MAA Legacy Park apartments in University City for about three years. Wallace said they're trying to buy a house soon, so they don't want to break their credit by breaking their lease. But after Monday night's shooting, they simply aren't comfortable where they live.
Wallace said she heard an argument outside her front door Monday night around 7:30 p.m.
"I heard a tussle, and then I heard my neighbor ... I heard him begging, pleading for his life, asking the person not to kill him," Wallace recalled. "Then all of a sudden I heard shots.
"My son, who is on the spectrum, when I screamed his name, didn't respond. I jumped over the coffee table to get him and tried to hurry, getting him close to the floor and on top of him until the bullets stopped flying."
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police arrested Jamal Matthew Dean Wednesday in connection with the shooting. He was charged with murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was taken into custody on an unrelated warrant before being identified as the suspect.
Charlotte attorney Gary Mauney said the law is on Wallace's side, according to the North Carolina Residential Rental Agreements Act.
"The landlord has a duty to keep the premises safe, and if there's violence or gunfire, they have to take action to remedy that situation, particularly if it's in an ongoing type of situation," Mauney said. "If they don't, they can have liability for that, for sure."
But to see their day in court would take time, likely more than the three months left on the lease. Wallace said that paying out the remainder of their lease would cost nearly $6,000, something the single-income household can't afford.
After Monday night's shooting, Wallace said the three months left on their lease is too long.
"We don't feel safe here," she said. "At all."
Wallace said the apartment manager is offering to allow them to transfer to another unit or complex, but it's impractical at this point.
"We don't have that kind of money," she said. You got to pay movers. And it wouldn't make sense to move to another unit, pack up here, move to the other unit just for a couple of months, pack up again and pay someone else to help us move again. We don't have money like that."
The front office at MAA Legacy Park told WCNC Charlotte they have no comment at this time. WCNC Charlotte reached out to MAA's corporate office and waiting to hear back.