3-year-old boy killed in nearly 150-bullet barrage fired into North Carolina home
By Joshua Rhett Miller
New York Post
September 9, 2021
A 3-year-old boy was killed and his 4-year-old sister was wounded when several gunmen fired nearly 150 rounds into a North Carolina home — in what police believe was tied to a high school feud.
Asiah Figueroa was asleep just before midnight Tuesday when the suspected teenage gunmen pulled up in two cars to his great-grandmother’s Charlotte home and squeezed off hundreds of bullets, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said.
Asiah was struck by the gunfire and later died at a hospital. His 4-year-old sister was also struck, but is expected to survive, police said.
Investigators released two videos of the suspects pulling up to the home in hopes of getting help from the public in identifying them. Detectives believe the incident is linked to several other shootings which resulted in two homicides.
“Information also indicates the string of shootings have some relation to students at Hopewell High School, and detectives believe there is a student from North Mecklenburg and Chambers (Vance) high schools involved,” police said in a statement.
The boy’s slaying should “outrage everyone,” Capt. Joel McNelly told reporters at a news conference Wednesday.
“What started out as teenage dispute games has turned into a deadly game that’s now taken two lives,” McNelly said. “What we need is for you to be as outraged about this as we are.”
Asiah’s great-grandmother, Susie Whitley, told WBTV that he and other relatives were staying at her home when the shots rang out.
“At first I thought, I thought I heard gunshots but I didn’t really know,” she told the station. “But then when I heard them hitting the door, I knew someone was shooting at my house.”
Whitley called 911 as her granddaughter was screaming that Asiah had been shot.
“I didn’t want to believe it,” Whitley said.
Whitley told WSOC she believes the gunmen were trying to kill everyone inside the home.
“These people need to be caught and need to get them off the street because they keep shooting at people’s houses,” his great-grandmother said.
Asiah, who was set to turn 4 in December, was a kind boy who loved playing on his iPad, Whitley said.
Neighbors said they heard the screams of Asiah’s mother following the gunfire.
“The worst sound that I heard was the blood-curdling screams of the mother that had just lost their child,” Abdul Khan told WBTV. “It’s scary, it’s almost surreal.”
1 comment:
The ammo shortage is for legitimate buyers not thieves.
Post a Comment