Retaliation a possible motive in shooting that killed 3-year-old Charlotte boy

CHARLOTTE (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) — Prosecutors say retaliation may have led to a shooting that killed a 3-year-old boy.

FOX 46 has obtained an incident report which shows one of the suspect’s homes was shot into 24 hours before the shooting where the child was killed.

The incident report says at least one of the victims in the first shooting on Kiev Drive was a student at Hopewell High School.

Police said there was a connection early on to some local high schools.

On Thursday in court, a judge refused to lower the bond for one of the suspects because the judge said he’s accused of “extreme violence” and driving away from police and leading them on a chase.

Police say the suspects unloaded around 150 rounds into a home on Richard Rozelle Drive. It was the home where 3-year-old Asiah Figueroa was killed by the gunfire on September 7.

Qua’tonio Stephens is one of three people arrested in connection with that shooting. He was charged with accessory after the fact.

But police say Stephens is also involved in other shootings.

In court Thursday, prosecutors and the defense said Stephens admitted to shooting into another home in the same neighborhood as the 3-year-old’s house in retaliation for his own home being shot up earlier in the night.

Prosecutors say two other homes nearby were hit, but Stephens’ attorney says his client never told police he was involved in the other shootings.

“Although Mr. Stephens only admitted to one shooting into an occupied property, I realize at this stage that the court finds there is probable cause to believe that the other houses that were shot into were done as a result of Mr. Stephens or someone he was with,” said Rob Corbett, Stephens’ defense attorney.

Police say they tried to pull Stephens over after the shootings, but he led them on a chase.

He crashed the car, and prosecutors say police recovered two guns in the car Stephens was driving that matched caliber and casings found on scene of the string of shootings and the scene where Asiah Figueroa was killed.

The prosecution says the cases involving the other shootings are scheduled to go before a grand jury on Monday.