16-year-old charged in connection with shooting death at motel

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A 16-year-old was charged Thursday with involuntary manslaughter in a shooting that killed 44-year-old Charles Fullington on July 24 at the City Inn motel on Nations Ford Road in southwest Charlotte, police said.

Fullington was found shot outside of room 221 late Wednesday afternoon, CMPD said. He died at a hospital.

Dominique Rorie was also charged with possession of a stolen firearm and possession of a handgun by a minor.

Chopper 9 flew over the scene where investigators combed the scene at the motel near Archdale Drive.

The hotel's manager, Robin McNeely, said last month that she thought it was an accidental shooting and that it was not random.

"I hear some people screaming," McNeely told Channel 9. "I took off to the back and found a man on the ground."

Fullington, who was shot and on the ground, had lived at the motel with his girlfriend and her teenage son, Rorie.

"We had found out that the minor in the incident had been playing with the gun and accidentally shot his mother's boyfriend," McNeely said in July.

Resident Benjamin Bowman has lived at the City Inn for about a month.

"That's the crazy thing," Bowman said. "I didn't hear a sound or anything. I came out, saw the gentleman on the ground."

The manager said that in the past, the motel saw plenty of issues with drugs and prostitution but that's changed.

McNeely said it's been cleaned up.

"The new owners came in, and anything that we saw, we flagged it immediately and got it out," the manager said.

Residents agree.

"I have two small children, so if I didn't feel it was safe, I wouldn't be here at the moment," resident Phil Rivera said.

The motel has many long-term residents who stay there for months and sometimes years.

Many of them have grown close to each other as a community.

"We're family, a close community," Rivera said. "I've never had a situation when I felt, like, ‘Why am I here?' Or (have had) any type of aggressive interaction with anyone."

McNeely said the biggest issue now spreads well beyond her motel property: gun safety.

"Guns are not toys," she said. "They have a purpose and that is for protection and they need to be taught not to play with them."

Cox Media Group