North Carolina shooting that killed 3-year-old boy tied to others involving high school students: police

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North Carolina boy, 3, killed after residential home comes under hail of bullets

Charlotte police say the boy’s murder is tied to other shootings involving high school students

Several suspects fired nearly 150 rounds in a North Carolina residential home late Tuesday night, killing a three-year-old boy and injuring his four-year-old sister, police said. 

The horror unfolded just before midnight in northwest Charlotte. Video footage captured by a neighbor’s home security camera shows two cars pulling up to a home. Several people get out of the cars and emptied their bullets into the home before fleeing the scene. 

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said there were 11 people inside the house during the shooting. Asiah Figueroa, a three-year-old boy, was killed and his four-year-old sister was grazed by a bullet but is expected to survive, police said. 

Figueroa's grandmother, Susie Whitley, shared a photo of Figueroa and his sister with WBTV news' Sharonne Hayes. 

Investigators determined that Tuesday night’s shooting was one of a string of several shootings related to two homicides. Police said information about the case indicates that the shootings have some relation to students at Hopewell High School. Detectives believe there is a student involved from North Mecklenburg High School and another from Chambers High School. 

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Earnest Winston said the recent acts of violence suggest "nothing short of a community in crisis." 

"The time is now for us to join together to help address the underlying causes of this violence while at the same time getting guns and violent offenders off the streets," Winston said in a statement provided to Fox News. "We must do all we can to divert our youth before further incidents result in injury and death, and before they act in ways that can derail their future." 

Winston said the district has reinstituted screenings in its schools to discourage students from bringing weapons on campus. 

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"How can you wake up this morning knowing that your actions last night took the life of a three-year-old, who will never get the opportunity to grow up and play, as you have?" Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Chief Johnny Jennings said. 

Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden pleaded for the community to help curb the recent spate of violence, WBTV reported. 

"I’m asking each and every citizen of Mecklenburg County to get involved to help us curb this community violence," McFadden said. "It will not stop by using the tactics that we have used in the past. We’re tired of marching. We’re tired of asking. I believe that this is the time for action."  

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The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call a homicide detective at 704-432-TIPS.