A 15-year-old was recently arrested and charged with murder in the shooting death of a Lyft driver in October of 2024, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department announced on Monday.
On Oct. 23, 2024, Carlos Leiva, 25, crashed his SUV at about 3:30 p.m. on Oaklawn Avenue in north Charlotte after he was shot.
‘Just want closure’: Family searches for justice after loved one killed in north Charlotte
Leiva, a 2018 Independence High School graduate, just started his shift the day he was shot, family members said.
Daniel Davila said his brother was a hard worker who worked two jobs, driving full time for Lyft.
“That’s what he really loved, because he would always come back telling a story about different people. Different people that he would meet,” Davila said.
Officers said the car crashed and caught fire in the Double Oaks neighborhood. Leiva died at the scene.
Davila said the grief is unbearable.
“It’s very hard, mother and father, myself included, my sister,” he said. “We’ll probably be up late just crying and being able to try to find some reasoning behind all of this.”
CMPD’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Team arrested the teen on Friday and they are in custody at the Stonewall Jackson Juvenile Development Center.
Officers didn’t release the teen’s name because of their age.
“For a kid to have a gun,” Davila said. “It makes you kind of feel unsafe. Like now, you just don’t know where to go. But only thing that I think about it is that we just need more law enforcement out there to stop people.”
Davila is relieved to have some answers now and knows his brother would want the family to push forward.
“Definitely being headed, more close to closure, but it gives us a little bit more peace now,” he said.
The juvenile was also charged with shooting into an occupied vehicle and conveyance.
The investigation is ongoing.
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