Home where shooting near officers happened is short-term rental, neighbors say

Hannah Goetz
·2 min read

Police are still looking for the person accused of firing a gun while officers were at a call over the weekend in east Charlotte.

Neighbors told Channel 9’s Hannah Goetz the house it happened at was a short-term rental. Many of the people she spoke with didn’t want to speak on camera, but did say they heard a number of shots fired.

“It was 15, 20 seconds worth of pops and I just remember thinking that was definitely not fireworks,” said Mark Dale.

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Dale said he had just gone to bed when he heard pops near his home around 2 a.m. Saturday.

“It did not sound too far. We usually hear fireworks from down here and it felt like it was the same distance,” he said.

Officers with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said those pops were in fact gunshots just up the road from Dale, on Arnold Drive. Police originally went to the neighborhood after a call about a large party and several people with weapons. Officers said as soon as they arrived, people took off. Then one vehicle stopped and the driver started firing shots.

Police said they returned fire.

″One officer perceived an imminent deadly threat and shot at that vehicle,” CMPD Maj. J.D. Thomas said.

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No one was hurt during that exchange, but neighbors said there were casings all over the road.

“We’ve got shell casings in the street, multiple rounds being fired,” Thomas said.

“We are very fortunate that no one was struck by this reckless, dangerous shooting that the suspects did,” he added.

People who live nearby said they believe the party house is a vacation rental. Goetz checked to see if anyone was there but no one answered. She noticed mail stuffed in the mailbox and a lockbox on the porch.

The home sits just across the street from an apartment complex where families live. Dale said this is out of the ordinary for the community and he isn’t worried.

“I totally feel safe in this neighborhood. I love it,” he said.

Goetz found a rental listing for the home on the booking site Expedia and has reached out to see if anyone booked through them over the weekend.

Police are still looking for a silver four-door sedan with a sunroof. If you know anything about the incident, call 911 or Crime Stoppers.

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