Suspect arrested after shots fired outside Charlotte NC elementary school
CHARLOTTE, N.C. Sept 26 2018 – Occupants of two cars dropping off students at a Charlotte school were engaged in a shoot-out while on school property, police report.
The school was put on lockdown Monday due to the police activity in front of the school.
The principal of the school sent a message home to families saying police were investigating reports of shots being fired.
Detectives with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said they’ve arrested the suspect who fired shots outside the elementary school in east Charlotte Monday morning.
Officials arrested Devontrez Moore, 25, and charged him in connection with the shooting outside Lawrence Orr Elementary.
Police said the initial investigation revealed that Moore got out of a vehicle that was in the school parking lot around 9 a.m. and started walking toward Shamrock Drive.
Officers said he then began shooting at a gray vehicle that was leaving the school. Police said the man inside the car that was targeted had just dropped off a child.
Police said the gray vehicle crashed into another car while trying to get away. The driver of the gray vehicle left the scene and called 911 to report the shooting.
“An innocent child could get shot or something around here,” mother Cotika Washington said. “It’s just not safe.”
No one was hit by the gunfire.
Police said they do not believe this was a random crime.
“I have grandchildren, and they are very fearful to go to school because of these types of situations, the shootings,” grandmother Marie Bittle said.
Officers said Moore ran away from the scene and a K9 unit was unable to track him down.
Police said a probation and parole officers located Moore on Tuesday morning and arrested him without incident.
He is charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, possession of a weapon on school grounds and discharging a weapon on school grounds.
WSOC
