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Questions Remain In Teen’s Northwest Charlotte Shooting Death

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 – updated: 5:14 pm EDT August 20, 2008

Police spent Wednesday searching neighborhood along Sunset Road, where they said a teenaged slaying suspect was last seen.

Vanessa Hines, 18, is accused of gunning down 14-year-old Ashante Mayfield in northwest Charlotte. Mayfield was in a car near the intersection of Catherine Simmons Avenue and Beatties Ford Road on Tuesday afternoon with three 18-year-old girls when an argument ensued.

Police said Mayfield got out of the car and was shot. Witnesses said she stumbled for about 25 feet and fell down on the sidewalk. She later died at the hospital.

The mother of one of the girls who was in the vehicle said there are several stories about why the teens in the car got into a fight with Hines, but she said her daughter had just met Mayfield.

"Now a child is lost for no reason, so it's very sad for no reason, and I pity the child. I wish all of them would have made a right choice, another choice, a better choice," said Connie Boyd.

Capt. Paul Zinkann, head of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Homicide Unit, said there are still many questions in the case, including what happened to the gun used in the crime.

"We're also looking for the gun that was removed from the scene. We definitely want to locate the person and the gun. We don't want that gun used in another offense or another homicide," he said.

He said Hines got on a Charlotte Area Transit System bus after the shooting and got off somewhere on Sunset Road. CATS officials said there is surveillance video of Hines, which it handed it over to detectives. Police are not releasing it.

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