CHARLOTTE — A mother is demanding answers as police continue their search for the person who shot and killed her son in south Charlotte.
On the morning of Sept. 5, officers found 31-year-old Elliot Butler dead along Mereview Court in Steele Creek.
Now, his mother, Theresa, is living with the pain of losing her child.
“I’m heartbroken; I’m lost for words,” she told Channel 9’s Miana Massey. “A part of my heart was taken away from me.”
Theresa believes her son was returning to the home he shared with the mother of his children, when someone shot him.
“It’s hard to justify that this was okay to take someone’s life that was entering into a home that he lived at, a home where his name was on the lease,” Theresa said. “He went in with the key. He didn’t break in. He didn’t kick the door down. He entered into the home with the key.”
Nearly three weeks later, police have not said what exactly led to the shooting. The Butler family says that uncertainty is only adding to their grief.
“I want justice,” his mother said. “I want answers; I want to know what happened.”
In the search for answers, Theresa wants people to remember how her son lived — a father and a youth football coach who was loved by so many.
“It’s just not fair,” she said. “It’s just not right that his life was taken.”
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department says the investigation remains open. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call police.
©2026 Cox Media Group





