Family Searching For Answers After Teen Shot To Death By CMPD Officer

The family of a 16-year-old is devastated after he was shot to death by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer near an east Charlotte apartment complex.

Officers responding to a robbery call at the Casa Del Lago apartments off Albemarle Road said they found 16-year-old Laquan Brown running from the scene around 2 a.m. Sunday. Officers Brian Carey and Jeff Wheaton said they followed the teen and saw a gun on him. Then, when Brown raised his hand in their direction, one of the officers shot him twice, killing him.

Family members said they’re upset they found out about the shooting by watching the noon news. Brown’s mother said when she heard a teen was shot and killed, a gut feeling made her go to the apartment complex before police notified her that her son was dead.

“It still hasn’t hit me yet. It’s like he’s going to walk through the door at any time and say, ‘Mama,’” she said.

Brown’s step-father, Donovan Blakeney, said the teen, who was visiting a friend at the apartment complex that night, was too young to die.

“He was 16, and it hurt. His mama, she’s hurting right now. Nobody wants to bury their son,” he said.

The family spent Monday working on the teen’s funeral arrangements, but in the back of their minds was the investigation into the two officers involved in the shooting.

“I want something to be done about it. I want to know why he was killed, why was he shot twice?” his mother asked.

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Eyewitness News found out more about Brown’s past. Brown had been a student at West Mecklenburg High School at the start of the school year, but on Sept. 7 he was told he was being moved to an alternative school a week after he was charged with stealing a car. He then dropped out of school.

Blakeney said he wasn’t surprised when he heard Brown ran when police showed up. He admits the teen had run-ins with the law, but for now the family is only focusing on one thing.

“We’re going to put our son in the ground, then come back and look at the rest,” he said.

Both officers are on administrative leave while the shooting is investigated, which is standard procedure.

Once the investigation is complete it will be turned over to the district attorney’s office for review. It will also go to an internal CMPD review board to make sure no departmental policies were broken.

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