Grieving father of man killed in Beatties Ford Road shooting longs for answers 4 years later

CHARLOTTE (NEWS FROM QUEEN CITY) — Saturday marks the fourth anniversary of the day gunmen opened fire on a crowd of hundreds of people along Beatties Ford Road, killing four people and injuring several more.

Some bystanders were shot and others were injured when they were hit by cars fleeing the chaos. Charles Billings wanted everyone to come together on Father’s Day.

“I just wanted him, my daughter, all my grandchildren and my wife, just us,” Billings said.

His wish came true. His son, 39-year-old Jamaa Cassell-Billings, came home.

“This was the first time that only the immediate family was together,” Billings said.

This Father’s Day in 2020 was unforgettable. Charles will never forget the next morning.

“They kept saying, ‘Daddy, Daddy didn’t come home,'” Billings said of his two granddaughters, Jamaa’s daughters.

Jamaa wanted to go to the zoo with his two daughters.

“We got a call, not from the police, but from the hospital. My wife answered the phone and they asked, ‘Do you have a son named Jamaa?'” Charles said.

It was immediately clear to him that Jamaa had not made it.

“I was just hit by a ricochet bullet. That was the last time I saw my son.”

There was a street party on Beatties Ford Road. About 400 people were there. The shooters fired more than 180 shots without paying attention to who they hit. Jamaa was one of the four dead.

“I want justice for my son, I just don’t want you to sweep this under the rug.”

Charles feels forgotten. Four years have passed and no arrests. Charles says that he began to heal through conversations with his mother.

“She says, ‘This is going to be hard for me to say, but I’m going to tell you.'” She said, ‘They may never find out who killed your son,'” Charles recounted a conversation with his mother.

Charles says he never visited his son’s grave. His mother told him to go there.

“I’m going to see my son,” Charles said through tears. “Four years. I’m going to see my son.”

He believes it will give him even more peace.

“He will tell me, ‘Dad, I know you did what you promised, Dad, and everything is fine between us.'”