Shootout Near Northlake Mall Leaves One Person Injured

UPDATE: Charlotte-Mecklenburg police arrested five people in connection the the shootout near Northlake Mall Saturday.  Ja-lil Johns, Demontre McClure, Pierre McClure, Jadarious Boston and Tomika Richardson were charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

The victim, Ryan Simpson, was charged with a narcotics violation.

CHARLOTTE, NC – One person is in the hospital and police have several suspects in custody after a shootout near Northlake Mall Saturday.

“I heard what I thought was someone cleaning off a rug, or you know I thought maybe over here picking up the trash, it was just, ‘boom, boom,'” explains Josh Bruce, who works nearby.

He and co-workers heard the gunshots as police say a group started firing at each other in the Super Target parking lot.

“Being out in the middle of broad daylight, that just blew my mind,” Bruce says.

Police say by the time they arrived just after 1:00pm Saturday, most of the suspects had taken off.

They did find one person inside a car with a gun. They tracked the others down a few miles away on Mallard Creek Road. There police found a person with a gunshout wound to the stomach, who was taken to the hospital.

Several other people in the car were detained.

It’s not a welcome sight for shoppers still reeling from a shooting Christmas Eve inside Northlake Mall.
An off-duty police officer shot and killed 18-year-old Dequan Westbrook, after investigators say he opened fire near a shoe store.

“It’s twice in two months,” says shopper Jon Klinger.

Shoppers we talked with say there are too many similarities to the Christmas Eve shooting, and say something needs to be done to keep people safe.

“You really think of this as a safe side of town,” Klinger says. “It kind of makes me question that a little bit.”

Police have not released the names of anyone involved. They say they aren’t looking for any more suspects.