CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A man shot in the thigh as he walked out of a convenience store in northwest Charlotte has died.

Investigators said around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday 36-year-old Johnie Teel walked into the Busy Mini Mart on Hoskins Road, bought something and then walked out. Witnesses say that's when they heard a gunshot, and moments later Teel walked back inside the store bleeding and collapsed.

Investigators used the police helicopter and a police dog to search the area around Hoskins and Rozzelles Ferry Road but did not find the gunman.

Teel died at Carolinas Medical Center early Thursday.

The violent incident has the west Charlotte man’s neighbors in shock.

“The whole neighborhood went to that store,” said Suzanne Hoffleit.

Teel was shot just two blocks away from where he lived. Police haven’t speculated on a motive, but neighbors like Hoffleit believe Teel was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“He was nice. He never hurt anyone,” she said. “It’s just scary.”

A close friend said Teel moved to Charlotte from New York more than a decade ago to escape the violence and begin a new life.

Next-door neighbor John Hathcock says he’ll miss the man he described as quiet and caring.

"It seems like we lost somebody we would really like to have in the neighborhood," he said.

But Hathcock also feels uneasy now.

“It makes me feel a little unsafe to be on the front porch really. (The store is) close to home, right up the street,” he said.