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Stolen guns used in Charlotte's most violent crimes

By Mark Becker, wsoctv.com
By Mark Becker, wsoctv.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said stolen guns have been used to commit some of Charlotte’s most violent crimes this year.

Channel 9 reporter Mark Becker has investigated the problem for months.

Police take about 200 guns off the street every month and many of them have been stolen from cars, then used in crimes.

Police said that’s what happened in uptown Charlotte last week in a horrific attack.

Police said Tevin Williams held a couple at gunpoint in uptown while he robbed and sexually assaulted them with a gun they said he had stolen from a car two days earlier.

“Somebody who is stealing a gun more than likely is going to be out committing a crime with that stolen gun,” said CMPD Officer John Frisk.

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Police said the number of guns stolen from cars has dropped by 6 percent this year, but some parts of the city have seen big jumps.

The numbers in Steele Creek on the southwest side and Hickory Grove on the east side have more than doubled this year over last year. And the Metro Division, where police believe Williams stole the gun he used in the uptown attack, has seen a 40 percent rise.

Police said many of those break-ins could have been prevented.

Frisk had no problem finding cars that may have been inviting someone to break in right in the police department’s parking lot.

Frisk said if you have a gun in your car, you have to make sure to keep it out of sight, ideally in the trunk.

“That’s going to be your best security measure ... keeping that gun inside the trunk,” Frisk said.

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