CMPD uses video footage to nab accused perpetrators after uptown riots

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Violent protesters who looted stores and smashed windows during last month’s riots in uptown Charlotte didn’t realize that they were being watched by surveillance and other cameras, which helped detectives make several arrests, authorities said.

“I've been in this line of work for 20 years. I've never seen anything where we had this much video evidence,” said Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Detective Josh Gibson.

Gibson and his team combed through hours of video and find the people responsible.

“As a detective watching the news, once I started seeing we (were) starting (to have) some break-ins and damage, I knew I'd be very busy,” Gibson said.

His first step was to get video from the six businesses that were burglarized, then collect video from local and national media.

“Many of them... were blatantly breaking into vehicles with a camera crew filming what they were doing,” Gibson said.

Video footage caught one man smashing windows at the Hyatt House. The accused vandal, Ian Bowzer, 19, was arrested.

“You totally see everything about his features down to the color of his shoestrings,” Gibson said.

Police arrested Rayquan Borum with the help of surveillance video from inside the Kandy Bar to connect him to the shooting death of Justin Carr.

There have been 30 arrests related to the civil unrest in Charlotte but Gibson said there is more work to do. Police are looking for up to 40 more people in connection with the uptown riots.

Cox Media Group