CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg homicide detectives have decided not to charge anyone in a shooting that left a 16-year-old dead in July.
Detectives with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Homicide Unit have classified this case as justified homicide, after a review from the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office.
The shooting happened just before 2 a.m. at the Southside Homes Apartment complex on Griffith Street.
When officers got to the apartment complex, they learned bystanders took 16-year-old Vontairius Doster to the hospital for a gunshot wound.
Doster later died from his injuries, police said.
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Channel 9 spoke with Doster’s grandfather, who said the family hopes someone with information about the crime will step forward.
“It was painful,” said Reginald Givens. “To hear your grandson, who you just talked to ... not a good experience. Talk to us. Give us some kind of information. Somebody knows something.”
Channel 9 spoke to CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings, who was visibly upset over the latest act of violence.
“This is not where we want to be as a city,” Jennings said. “To have to look at five homicides over a weekend is not something we should stand for. If you’re waking up and this is business as usual, then we have a problem.”
Jennings also had a message for people who refuse to come forward with information to help solve cases.
“There’s a great majority of people who’ve been silent,” Jennings said. “It’s time now that we came together and said we’re not going to stand for this.”
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Authorities have not said what led up to the shooting. No arrests have been made.
Police held a news conference Monday afternoon, where Jennings and CMPD Maj. Rob Dance expressed their frustration with the violent crime in the Queen City. Police have responded to 22 homicides in the past six weeks.
“When you have five over a weekend, and two of them 17 or younger, then we should be looking deep within ourselves and making sure we’re doing what we can to keep our city safe,” Jennings said. “This has to stop. We stand before you way too often and we say the same thing.”
The new chief said that police alone can’t stop the violence.
“This community shouldn’t tolerate 16-year-olds getting shot and killed,” said Dance.
He said detectives are making progress on the cases, despite the fact that no one is talking.
“When no one comes here with information, it’s sending a pretty loud and clear message: They just don’t care,” he said.
“Our real pandemic is the violence going on in our community,” said Lisa Crawford, with Mothers of Murdered Offspring.
She has been wrestling with Charlotte’s epidemic of violence for the better part of two years and said finally her organization and others in the community are working with each other to confront the problem.
“We’re all getting together and saying, ‘Hey, how can we fight this monster together?' Crawford said.
Police suggested they’d have some arrests in the latest string of homicides within the next several days, but said it will take a lot more work to stem the tide of violence that has hit the community hard.
Despite a focus on violent crime by city leaders and police, it continues to be a major problem.
Last year, 107 people were killed in Charlotte. That was the highest homicide rate in decades. So far this year, Charlotte is on a similar pace. There have been 59 homicides in the city in 2020, compared to 56 on the same date in 2019.
This is an ongoing investigation. Check back with wsoctv.com for more information.