Shootings Into Occupied Homes, Vehicles On The Rise In Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, NC — Shootings into occupied vehicles and dwellings are on the rise in the Charlotte metro area, police said Wednesday.

So far this year, 499 shootings into occupied homes and vehicles have occurred in the metro area, up 27 percent from this time last year, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

"When occupied homes and vehicles are shot into, information from the public is pivotal when it comes to making arrests. These cases are generally retaliatory in nature, and detectives rely heavily upon information from witnesses and evidence gathered from the scene to solve the cases," police said.

One case police are attempting to solve is the May 31 fatal shooting of Georgia State University student Sherilyn "Alicia" Drew, 21, who was killed in her family home in the 5500 block of Twin Brook Drive just after midnight when suspects opened fire on the front of the house.

"This case is especially troubling to me and to the detectives that have been working on it because a young, innocent woman lost her life, and we really need the community's help to try to bring some resolution," Lt. Bryan Crum, of CMPD's violent crime division, said during a news conference.

"We believe this is a case where they made a mistake, they targeted the wrong home. We don't know who the people were looking for, but based on our investigation, it had nothing to do with Alicia and nothing to do with her family," Crum said.

Police are offering a reward of up to $5,000 through Crime Stoppers for information that leads to an arrest in the case.

While police say they are responding to more of these types of cases, there are common threads among them.

Many of the cases are retaliatory, Crum said. "They're minor disputes; people see an opportunity, and they start shooting — and that's how we end up here," he said.

But not all are known targets. In May, David Hollowell, 40, was accused of shooting into a vehicle with two people inside during a road rage incident that started with a lane merge dispute on Interstate 485.

In recent months, police have arrested suspects who fired into vehicles with children, shot into apartment buildings after a fight and one man who shot a woman with her own gun after he stole her purse and found it inside.

"This is just a small snapshot of what happens when folks have some of these, what we all consider minor disagreements, and they bring a gun to it in order to deal with their problems," said Lt. Joan Gallant of CMPD's North Patrol Division. "No community should have to live listening to gun shots in their neighborhood."

Anyone with information about any crime in the Charlotte metro area may leave a tip anonymously with Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.

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