Man suspected in Arboretum kidnapping shot dead by police in Wilmington

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Police tell Channel 9 the man accused of kidnapping a woman at gunpoint last week in a parking lot at the Arboretum in south Charlotte has been shot and killed by law enforcement in eastern North Carolina.

Officials said the suspect, identified as 31-year-old Kyle Horton, robbed someone at the Walmart on Independence Boulevard and another person in Myrtle Beach using the car he stole at the Arboretum.

New Hanover County deputies said they knew Horton was armed and dangerous and received a tip that he was headed to the Wilmington area. They said they worked with the FBI to find him.

Detectives saw him pull up outside a Wilmington apartment complex around 9 p.m. Tuesday and they tried to take him in to custody, but they said he pulled a gun on them.

Police said he was shot and killed by officers after refusing to surrender in Wilmington. No officers were injured in the shooting and the SBI is now investigating the case.

The Arboretum incident happened last Friday, Dec. 13 around 3:30 p.m. at the shopping center off Providence Road.

Police said the 30-year-old victim was eating at a restaurant with her grandmother when she left to grab the car.

She pulled the car around to pick her grandmother up when she was approached by the suspect at gunpoint. Police said she was kidnapped in her own car from the parking lot.

She was driven to South Carolina and abandoned there, according to sources. Police said the suspect took her car and robbed someone else at the Independence Boulevard Walmart.

Shoppers at the Arboretum said they could not believe the kidnapping happened in a very busy place.

“I am shocked. I feel super safe here. I live in the area, know shopkeepers and people who worked here, and I am shocked,” shopper Susan King said.

“I’m kinda speechless to be honest,” shopper Riley Carlton said. “I never thought that anyone would be kidnapped around here. I thought it would be like someone would see it or something.”

Police said the woman was not hurt.

72-year-old woman recounts carjacking at Arboretum 72-year-old woman recounts carjacking at Arboretum

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