CHARLOTTE — The organizer of a north Charlotte pool party that ended in a deadly mass shooting told Channel 9 she never expected violence, as warrants show how social media tips helped the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department identify a murder suspect.
The search warrant explains how detectives narrowed in on a suspect after the March 22 pool party.
Five people were shot at the backyard pool party on Hucks Road in north Charlotte. R.J. Thomas died from a gunshot wound.
Months after the shooting, CMPD arrested 19-year-old Kmari Knotts, charging him with first-degree murder and multiple other felonies.
Channel 9’s Hunter Sáenz spoke with the woman who organized and threw the party.
‘The first gunshot’
“I literally went to go close the gate to the party, and when I was walking back inside, that’s when I heard the first gunshot,” said the woman, who didn’t want to be identified.
She figured the party would be well-attended because it was promoted online and open to anyone. An estimated 500 people were there.
Sáenz asked her on Wednesday, “With all due respect, what did you expect to happen when throwing an open-invite pool party?”
“I was hoping that by actually getting real security, like people that are licensed, people that are walking the perimeter and stuff like that, people that are checking bags and stuff like that,” she told Sáenz over the phone. “I was hoping that this would be the first event where something didn’t go wrong.”
The party host helped CMPD identify the suspect using Instagram.
She gathered multiple cellphone videos of the party, “posted a picture of the suspect and asked for people to identify him,” and received “hundreds of messages about the homicide,” the warrant said.
“Once so many people are telling me this, that’s when I finally felt comfortable enough to go to the police department with everything I knew,” she told Sáenz.
That social media data helped detectives narrow it down to Knotts, who is now being held without bond.
Sáenz asked, “Do you regret having this party?”
“I think about it all the time, where I’m like, ‘If I would have just ended it when I was supposed to end it, none of it would have happened,’” she said.
‘12 to 15 rounds’
Aaron Corbin lives nearby.
“I counted anywhere from 12 to 15 rounds,” he recalled.
He was outside with his 5-year-old daughter.
“So, I hurried up and got my daughter and her friend in the house,” Corbin said. “And I was just about to shut the garage when there were a couple hundred young adults running from there to our neighborhood.”
He helped some shelter in his garage.
Corbin said he and his family think about the shooting often.
Neighbors told Channel 9 that there have not been any more parties.
©2026 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
