Charlotte police search for 30-minute shooting

Police in Charlotte, North Carolina, are searching for one or more suspects in connection with a series of shootings that occurred within 30 minutes on Tuesday evening and left one person dead and two injured.

The shootings, which occurred between 1 a.m. and 1:30 a.m., appeared to be related, as they appeared to be random shots fired from a vehicle at other vehicles or cyclists., Charlotte-Mecklenburg Deputy Police Chief Tonya Arrington said this during a press conference on Tuesday.

“Someone out there knows who this person or persons are, and we are asking them to come forward,” Arrington said. “We need help solving these cases, and we need it fast.”

Police are offering a reward of $10,000 for information leading to arrests.

Investigators are working hard to identify those involved in the bloodshed, Arrington said.

“At this time, we have no confirmed suspects and we do not have a verified description of a vehicle,” she said.

The first shooting in the rampage occurred around 1 a.m. in the 3800 block of Statesville Avenue. A victim was in a vehicle traveling north on Statesville when his vehicle was shot at. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

On Wednesday, police identified him as 58-year-old Mustaffa Muhammad.

Just minutes later, police responded to the intersection of Lasalle Street and Newland Road because a cyclist had been shot but was not injured, police said.

A short time later, a person’s vehicle was struck by gunfire as he was driving on Lasalle Street near I-77, officials said. And then a group told police in the 2100 block of Catherine Simmons Drive that they had been shot at. Officers then found a female victim who was inside a nearby home when she was struck by gunfire, police said.

The first shootings all occurred within the city’s patrol area, authorities said. The next shooting police responded to occurred within a patrol area, namely in the Steel Creek area southwest of the city’s patrol area, police said.

In Steel Creek, a bicyclist was struck and injured in the 100 block of Hillary Circle, police said. While searching the area, officers found that a house had been hit by gunfire.

Arrington said Tuesday that police are planning additional patrols and combing the affected areas looking for witnesses. Arrington also asked the public to turn over surveillance videos.

“We have a lot of leads. We’re working through them right now,” she said. “There’s a long distance between Metro and Steel Creek, so we’re trying to cover a big area now, and we’re trying to divide and conquer.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 704-334-1600 or http://charlottecrimestoppers.com.