Immigration Committee Begins Meetings, West Charlotte Victorius in Weekly News Roundup

Another week has gone by in the Queen City. Here are five news stories we’ve been following through the last seven days.

The West Charlotte Lions mens’ basketball team won its state quarterfinals game against Ardrey Kell on Tuesday night in front of a packed gym at Vance High School after controversy put the game in a spotlight around the city. The Lions moved on to the 4A men’s semifinal in Hickory, where they will play against R.J. Reynolds High School from Winston-Salem tonight at 6 p.m.

Rayquan Borum was found guilty of second-degree murder on Friday for the killing of 26-year-old Justin Carr during the Charlotte Uprising in 2016. He was sentenced to at least 24 years in prison for the killing and a gun charge. Multiple media outlets reported what Carr’s mother said when she had a chance to address the court after the verdict: “I feel like the whole trial was made about the defendant. My son was down there for a cause, taking a stand for something he strongly believed in and he was murdered. He had just discovered his purpose in life. He about to have his first son.”

CMPD announced the arrest of one of its own on Friday morning. According to a press release, officer Todd Beltrone was charged with obtaining property by false pretenses after it was found that he had falsified his time sheet on 19 occasions between July 2018 and March 2019, allowing him to falsely claim about $7,000 he did not earn, making the offense a Class H felony. “I’m disappointed today, professionally, because we trust our people and we have a culture here that we don’t tolerate wrongdoing, and if somebody takes advantage of it, it’s sickening,” said CMPD Deputy Chief Curt Voorhees during a press conference announcing the arrest.

The city of Charlotte’s newly formed Immigration Community Committee held its first event this morning at Inspira in east Charlotte, a business resource fair for immigrants. Mayor Vi Lyles; city council members Matt Newton, Larken Egleston and Julie Eiselt; and a number of city leaders were in attendance to answer questions and take suggestions from members of the immigrant community in the audience, many of whom were business owners with concerns about citizenship, taxes, government programs and other things. A schedule of upcoming ICC community outreach meetings can be found in Queen City Nerve’s story from Friday.

Following two violent weeks in Charlotte, there was only one homicide reported in the city this week. Police reported that a man was found dead of a gunshot wound in a parking lot in the 2700 block of Tuckaseegee Road just after 11 p.m. on Friday night. The victim’s name has not yet been released.