In the last six days, there have been six fatal shootings in Charlotte. Five of them were homicides. Early Tuesday morning, 22-year-old Dominick Alexander was shot to death outside of a nightclub on Atando Avenue in north Charlotte. At a press conference Tuesday, CMPD Deputy Chief Kerr Putney said three of the homicides are suspected of being drug-related and none of them are connected to each other.
"This is an anomaly," Putney says. "Not often do we have a spike of fatal shootings in such a short time span. It happens on occasion, but for the most part, this is not the norm in Charlotte. High-risk lifestyles, poor decisions and dealing with acquaintances who seek to use guns to settle disputes are all contributing factors."
Two of the homicides occurred in the North Tryon Division, one in Eastway and one in Steele Creek. Two of the homicides were at night clubs and CMPD has made arrests in two of the cases. One suspect turned himself in a third case. There have been a total of 35 homicides so far this year. Putney says the city is roughly on track to have slightly fewer homicides than last year, when there was a 24-year low of 52 homicides.