A 3-year-old boy was killed, and his 4-year-old sister was wounded when several teenagers shot more than 150 rounds into a North Carolina home. Investigators suspect it was related to a high school dispute.
According to police, Asiah Figueroa was asleep when two teens pulled up to his great grandmother’s house in Charlotte NC early Tuesday when they released over a hundred shots. Asiah was shot and later died at the hospital, his 4-year-old sister was also struck by a bullet but is expected to recover, police said.
“Information also indicates the string of shootings have some relation to students at Hopewell High School, and detectives believe there is a student from North Mecklenburg and Chambers (Vance) high schools involved,” police said in a statement.
On Wednesday, Capt. Joel McNelly said at a news conference that the boys slaying should “outrage everyone.”
“What started out as teenage dispute games has turned into a deadly game that’s now taken two lives,” McNelly said. “What we need is for you to be as outraged about this as we are.”
Susie Whitley, Asiah’s great-grandmother, told WBTV that he and other family members were staying at her house when the bullets were fired.
“At first I thought, I thought I heard gunshots but I didn’t really know,” she told the station. “But then when I heard them hitting the door, I knew someone was shooting at my house.”
As her granddaughter screamed that Asiah had been shot, Whitley dialed 911.
“I didn’t want to believe it,” Whitley said.
According to WSOC, Whitley believes the attackers were attempting to kill everyone within the house.
“These people need to be caught and need to get them off the street because they keep shooting at people’s houses,” his great-grandmother said.
Neighbors said they heard Asiah’s mother scream after the initial gunfire.
The worst sound that I heard was the blood-curdling screams of the mother that had just lost their child,” Abdul Khan told WBTV. “It’s scary; it’s almost surreal.”
