Woman injured when shots fired into home in eastern Mecklenburg County

by Guest Tue Mar 17, 2015 11:39 pm

After as many as 18 bullets were fired into his fence and home early Tuesday, wounding his wife, an eastern Mecklenburg County man said he hopes the gunmen didn’t target them because the family is Muslim.

“We don’t know if it was a random shooting” or the family was targeted because of their faith, the homeowner said outside his house in the 7800 block of Shiny Meadow Lane. “We hope it’s not the second case.”

Police won’t know if a hate crime was involved until they arrest someone in the case, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Capt. Chuck Henson said.

Shots struck the family’s rear security fence and back of the home about 1 a.m., police said.

One bullet went through a second-floor window, striking the wife of the homeowner in the thigh as she slept, the homeowner told news reporters and photographers.

The homeowner asked that he be identified only by his first name, Abdul.

He said his wife was moved to intensive care and will need surgery.

At an 11 a.m. news conference, Henson said the woman was in stable condition and is expected to recover.

Henson said the neighborhood has had only an occasional break-in over the years. Shiny Meadow Lane is off Interstate 485, near Robinson Church Road.

Henson said the homeowner told police that the family has always gotten along with their neighbors, attending cookouts and other functions.

“Why our house in particular?” Abdul earlier told WBTV, the Observer’s news partner. “Why aren’t the other houses shot at? Looks like we were targeted for one purpose or another, and it doesn’t sound like a random shooting.

“We are traumatized, all of us, and we are thinking who can be shooting at us? Is it for motive? We have no idea,” Abdul said.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article14921354.html#storylink=cpy