Suspect in fatal Charlotte restaurant shooting ran from police. He didn’t make it far.
Police on Friday arrested a 30-year-old man in connection with Wednesday night’s fatal shooting of a worker at a Mexican restaurant in southwest Charlotte.
The victim, 37-year-old Juan Velazquez Hernandez, worked for a business hired by La Poblanita Bar and Grill on Westinghouse Boulevard to perform maintenance on kitchen equipment, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department news release.
Hernandez was pronounced dead the scene, according to CMPD.
A reporter for Charlotte Observer news partner WBTV saw police in tactical gear and with guns drawn at the restaurant after the shooting.
Police said they did not know the motive behind the killing.
On Thursday, police obtained warrants for the arrest of Raheem Kawon Fuller. On Friday, officers spotted him along another stretch of Westinghouse Boulevard. Fuller ran when police called out his name, but officers quickly apprehended him, police said in Saturday’s news release.
Fuller was jailed on charges of murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon and first-degree kidnapping.
The restaurant is at 1925 Westinghouse Blvd., just east of South Tryon Street in the Steele Creek area. Its website says La Poblanita is “family owned and operated since 2009” and includes a store that sells “traditional Mexican candy for any Pinata celebration.”
Hernandez was Charlotte’s eighth homicide victim this year. Charlotte had nine homicides during the same period last year.
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