CHARLOTTE — A 37-year-old father of four has died after he was shot Monday afternoon on Atando Avenue near Tryon Street in north Charlotte. Family members said Bradley Reid had been fighting to survive after someone shot into his Lexus, leaving him critically injured. Loved ones now remember a man they say was working to turn his life around and are calling for justice.
“He was an uncle. He was a brother. He was my favorite cousin,” said Joshua Cornelius, cousin. “I looked up to him. A lot of my moments growing up, I was very proud to have him there.”
Cornelius spoke with Channel 9’s Jonathan Lowe on Tuesday afternoon.
“(Reid) actually was just pronounced dead maybe an hour or two ago, so now we know that’s going to be changed to a homicide,” Cornelius said.
Time stopped when police contacted family members after the shooting, Cornelius said.
“He’s in the hospital,” the cousin said. “He’s unresponsive. He was shot in the head.”
Another person in the Lexus was not hurt during the shooting, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said.
A witness told Channel 9 what happened.
“I was standing here with my customer. He was looking at a vehicle, talking about prices, and things like that, and then I heard five gunshots,” said Tonda Shembo, the owner of a nearby car dealership/mechanic shop.
The business backs up to the alley way where Cornelius’ vehicle came to a stop.
“I did see somebody run off into the back part, and then I saw somebody get out, and they dropped down to the floor,” Shembo said.
In the last two months, Cornelius said Reid made considerable progress to make up for past mistakes and to get on a better path.
“He was doing a lot better for himself, helping out with the children … redeeming himself,” he said. “That’s the most demoralizing part with him is, because we saw the changes and the effort that he made to be a better person.”
And while that may offer some solace to grieving loved ones, they also want justice for a person who had just started their life over.
“He wasn’t a perfect person but never did anything like this to anybody and never thought anything like this would happen to him,” Cornelius said.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is investigating the homicide.
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