Police: Suspect Charged After 12-Year-Old Boy Shot In North Charlotte While Waiting For School Bus

Justin Pryor, Sarah Obeid,

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Police have charged one suspect after a 12-year-old boy was shot in north Charlotte early Thursday while he was waiting on the school bus.

Ray Daniels, 29, has been charged with Assault with a Deadly Weapon Inflicting Serious Injury, Assault with a Deadly Weapon on a Law Enforcement Officer, Possession of a Firearm by a Felon, and Discharging a Weapon into an Occupied Vehicle.

Officers with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department say Daniels fired multiple rounds at a group of people standing in front of a motel on West Sugar Creek Rd near Reagan Drive around 7:30am.

The boy was nearby waiting for a school bus when he was hit by one of the bullets in the leg. He was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to Medic. He is expected to be okay.

Daniels, the passenger, and a second unidentified suspect, the driver, fled the scene, according to a news release, but were immediately followed by a Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Deputy who was driving by at the time of the shooting and witnessed the incident.

Deputy Corey Thompson pursued and police say that is when Daniels fired at him from the moving vehicle.  Police initially said neither the deputy nor his vehicle were hit, but a later inspection revealed a bullet strike in the windshield near the rearview mirror.

The deputy pursued the vehicle on south I-85 but as he exited onto Brookshire Boulevard, he saw the suspect vehicle unoccupied near Linwood Ave, police say.

CMPD and the MCSO set up a perimeter and then received information from a member of the community that helped them locate Daniels.  After a foot pursuit, Daniels was apprehended at N. Hoskins and Woodman Ave.

The second suspect has not yet been apprehended.  Officers say they recovered a gun believed to be used in the shooting.

Police say Deputy Thompson was in uniform and a marked vehicle at the time of the shooting.

Anyone with information on this shooting is asked to call 704-432-TIPS.