STATESVILLE, N.C. — Statesville Police are asking for help, hoping for any information to help figure out who shot 3 innocent children in 2 drive-by shootings Monday night. Police believe the shootings are connected and are desperately searching for those involved and a white Honda Accord they were driving.
The first shooting happened just before 7 p.m. Monday night on Wilson Lee Boulevard in Statesville. Family members say 9-year-old Ah'miyahh Howell was killed while playing outside with her 7-year-old cousin Tariq Lowery. He was also shot but his grandmother told WCNC Charlotte he is doing okay after surgery.
Family and community members came together Tuesday evening for a candlelight vigil to remember Howell and also honor the other two young victims.
One resident shared how he was also there to help comfort another young lady who was also in the area when those bullets rang out.
“She was bawling, she was crying she couldn’t believe what she witnessed," Esteban Ocampo said. "That’s the last thing you want to see is your friend, your cousin dying right in front of you.”
Ocampo says tragedies like this should force more community action.
"Why do we have to wait for something like this to happen to start looking for change why not go ahead and do it now," Ocampo said.
Family members continuing to remember a life taken too soon.
“To have to lose your life at 9 years old. You can't even graduate. Can't even walk across the stage. Can't even hug her mama one more time. Can't even kiss her brother one more time,” her cousin Ronekia Parks said.
While police were responding to that call, they heard the second shooting. It happened less than an hour and a half after the first, only a quarter of a mile away on New Bern Avenue. A 10-year-old child was shot and brought to the hospital with injuries.
Statesville police said they believe the two shootings are connected.
Howell made a big impact on her family in her nine years.
"She was a happy child, loving,” her cousin Sandra Parks said. "She loved to dance. She was just a loving baby. We're going to miss her a lot."
Police say Howell is one of three innocent children who were shot in the same neighborhood.
“That carelessness and that recklessness, we can't allow that to exist here,” Statesville Police Chief David Addison said. “They should've seen those children out in the front yard. Why would you still pull that trigger, I do not know."
Chief Addison would not say if the houses were specifically targeted. He does believe the shooters have been in the community before.
They said two cars were involved in the crimes and were working together, a white Mercedes and a white Honda Accord. The Mercedes was stopped in Mooresville by police and an 18-year-old inside was detained and questioned but not charged.
Police still looking for the white Honda Accord, asking for any information that could help.
While investigating, officers received a separate call about two men with weapons on Wilson Lee Boulevard. Those men, identified as Erin Whitmore, 20, and Davion Patterson, 18, were arrested and charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession with intent to sell and deliver and resist, delay and obstruct.
“If you have the information, if you saw what transpired, you have to come forward. If this was your child, if this was someone you loved, you would expect someone to do that for you,” Addison said.
He added that people not wanting to “snitch” is hurting the investigation.
“They didn't deserve that. They were playing they didn't expect for nothing like that to come through here and they lose their life, the one did,” Parks said. “It just hurts. Our family hurts from this because we don't understand. We don't understand what caused it all. What made them do this?"
Anyone with information is asked to call Iredell County Crime Stoppers.
Contact Chloe Leshner at cleshner@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.