2 teenage suspects arrested in series of shootings across Charlotte, North Carolina

North Carolina police have arrested two teen suspects in connection with a series of five shootings in the Charlotte area early Tuesday morning that officials believe are connected. One person was killed. 

The suspects, 18-year-old Carlos Roberto Diaz and a 16-year-old boy, were separately arrested Thursday, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officials said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. Both are expected to face multiple charges, including first-degree murder, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said.  

Officers who were patrolling the areas where the shootings had taken place early Thursday morning noticed a vehicle exhibiting “suspicious behavior” and pulled it over for a traffic stop, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Deputy Chief Tonya Arrington told reporters. Police determined the driver and lone occupant, a 16-year-old, to be a suspect in the shootings and took him into custody.

A stolen firearm was also found in the vehicle, Arrington disclosed, adding, “We have reason to believe that the 16-year-old juvenile intended on continuing his violent crime spree.”

Diaz was then taken into custody early Thursday afternoon.

“Our officers were in the right area in the right time, knowing what to look for, and being proactive,” Arrington said of how the suspects were captured.

Investigators have not identified additional suspects at this time, Arrington added. Police did not say how the two suspects are connected.  

There is no indication that the shootings were gang-related, Arrington said, and so far three of the shootings have been “forensically linked.” Investigators still do not have a possible motive.

“We’re still asking the same questions. Why would two juveniles engage in this type of behavior on random victims?” Arrington said, adding that “this is random and completely unusual.” 

Police responded to the first reported shooting at around 1:05 a.m. on Tuesday, July 9. A man inside his vehicle had a gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene. The victim, identified by CBS News affiliate WBTV as Mustaffa Muhammad, 58, is believed to have been shot by someone driving by, police said. 

Several more shooting incidents were reported in the next half hour. A bicyclist called police to say that he had been shot at around 1:09 a.m., and another victim’s car was struck by gunfire “a short time later.” Neither person was injured. 

Officers also responded to a party where a group of individuals said a person in a vehicle had fired multiple rounds in their direction at around 1:11 a.m. No one at the party was shot, but a nearby home was struck and a woman inside sustained non-life-threatening injuries. 

At 1:25 a.m., police responded to another report from a cyclist who was shot and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Nearby, another home had been struck by gunfire, with no injuries reported. 

The injured woman and cyclist were both transferred to Charlotte’s Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center, police said.

“It’s nerve-racking. You know, thinking that someone can just drive past or, you know, if we’re driving somewhere, someone can do something like that to us or our kids,” an anonymous parent told WBTV.

The department previously told WBTV that it was investigating tips that came in on Wednesday afternoon. A $10,000 reward is being offered for any information that leads to an arrest. 

A press conference is expected to be held on Thursday afternoon.