Boy, 3, killed after 150 gunshots fired into North Carolina home
‘What we need is for you to be as outraged about this as we are,’ Charlotte police chief says
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Gunmen sprayed 150 bullets into a North Carolina home, killing a three-year-old boy as he was sleeping and injuring his four-year-old sister.
Asiah Figueroa was in bed when a group of teenage suspects in two cars pulled up to his great-grandmother’s house in Charlotte just before midnight on Tuesday.
Asiah was shot in the attack and died later in hospital, while his older sister was “grazed” but is expected to survive, police said. Asiah’s death is being linked to three other shootings that escalated from a “teenage dispute” between high school students in Charlotte, police say.
They released two videos which show the gunmen arriving at the suburban neighbourhood and firing indiscriminately at the house.
Homicide detectives have gathered this video evidence of the shooting. They are sharing it in hopes someone in the community recognizes one of the vehicles or suspects. #clt #cltnews pic.twitter.com/8erwsQwr0K
— CMPD News (@CMPD) September 8, 2021
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Captain Joel McNelly said Asiah’s death should “outrage everyone”.
“What started out as teenage dispute games has turned into a deadly game that’s now taken two lives,” Mr McNelly said at a news conference.
“What we need is for you to be as outraged about this as we are.”
Police said at least one of the suspects was believed to be a student at a Charlotte high school.
Here are some pictures the great-grandmother living at the home shared with me. She told me the child’s name is Asiah Fiqueroia and he was only 3-years-old. His birthday would have been this upcoming December. Pictured next to him is his older sister. @WBTV_News https://t.co/AbjWi8jmdF pic.twitter.com/Tha7GxU9T8
— Sharonne Hayes (@SharonneHayesTV) September 8, 2021
“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,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg PD say.
Asiah, his mother and sister had been staying at his great-grandmother Susie Whitley’s home when the attack occurred.
Ms Whitley told WBTV that she thought the gunmen were trying to kill everyone inside, as the hundreds of bullets hit her home.
“These people need to be caught and need to get them off the street because they keep shooting at people’s houses,” Ms Whitley said.
Police have linked Asiah’s death to at least three other shootings in northwest Charlotte in the past few days.
On Sunday, 16-year-old Jaylen Xavier Foster was found dead in the city and two other gunshot victims were taken to hospital, WCNC reported.
A 14-year-old juvenile has been arrested and charged with a series of crimes including murder.
The night before Asiah was killed, there were several other drive-by shootings within a quarter mile of his great-grandmother’s home.
And shortly before midnight on Tuesday, shots were fired at a home in the same neighbourhood.
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles pleaded for the killings to stop.
“These incidents that are taking place that result in the loss of a 3-year-old, it is because someone’s not willing to tell us how to do better, how to stop it,” Ms Lyles said.