Vehicle Owned by SCP Founder Hit by Bullet; Ricochet Strikes House
A Honda Civic sedan owned by the Founder of the Stonehaven Community Patrol, Brian Lutes, was struck by a bullet between 6:13 & 6:39 pm on Saturday November 21, 2009 while the vehicle was parked in his driveway. The Lutes’ were not home when the incident took place.
The bullet struck and penetrated the car’s hood, passed through two hood reinforcement crossmembers, entered and exited the firewall, traveled upward onto the windshield causing a shatter about the size of a quarter, then ricocheted into the fascia on the garage of the home where it became lodged.
On the day of the incident SCP members received a call from a Stonehaven resident who reported hearing gun fire in the 6000 block of Gate Post Rd. around 6:30pm, but the Patrol was not in service at that time due to the effort to conserve funds for use over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Then, on Sunday November 22 around 1pm the bullet hole in the hood of the car was discovered.
Upon interviewing Lutes’ neighbors, a witness to the incident was discovered. The witness reported he was using his computer in the “front room” of his home located diagonally across the street from the Lutes residence when he heard at least one gunshot spurring him to step out his front door where he observed what he believes was a dark-colored sedan back out of Lutes’ driveway and then squeal tires as the vehicle left the scene traveling down Gate Post Rd. toward Rocky Falls at a very high rate of speed.
It is not know at this time if the incident is related to SCP operations specifically, but it is clear that the gun fire was not a random act such as a “drive-by” gang initiation type shooting due to the fact that the suspect vehicle pulled directly into Lutes’ driveway.
At this time the cost of repairs to the vehicle is not known, but the vehicle is driveable.
A report of the incident was made to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Dept., who sent an Officer to the scene, when the damage to the vehicle was discovered and a criminal investigation into the incident has begun.
Anyone having information about the incident or anyone who may recall seeing a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed on Gate Post Road toward Rocky Falls on Saturday November 21, 2009 around 6:30 pm is asked to call the Stonehaven Community Patrol at 980-297-8446 or the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Dept. using the non-emergency 311 phone line.