Police make arrest in club shooting as Raleigh’s gun violence continues to surge
Police have charged a 29-year old man with murder after a deadly shooting at the Club 30 Plus night club in south Raleigh, one of two deaths Sunday that pushed Raleigh to its highest homicide total in more than a decade.
Officers charged Kwame Smith in the early-morning club shooting on Rush Street, which killed George Franklin Burnette, 33. Smith is also charged in the stabbing assaults on Vincent Wayne Mason Jr., 19, and Tristan Lee Mason, 20. Raleigh police have said those incidents are related. Both stabbing victims were treated at WakeMed for non-life-threatening injuries.
So far this year, Raleigh has seen 29 homicides — a 70 percent increase over last year’s total of 17. That tops every year’s total since 2008, when there were 35 homicides, according to Raleigh police.
Early Sunday, about 1 a.m., WakeMed contacted police about a man shot and injured at a Fiddle Stix gas station on the 4400 block of Capital Boulevard in North Raleigh. The fatal Club 30 Plus call came about an hour later.
At 2:30 a.m., police found another victim with gunshot wounds in the 1400 block of Crest Road at an apartment complex near North Carolina State University. He was taken to WakeMed but did not survive.
The rise in violence prompted a call for community cooperation from Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown.
“Very often people have seen something in advance of these incidents,” she said Monday. “What we’re doing right now is pleading to the community and asking for their help.”
Non-fatal shootings total 98 this as of Dec. 9, according to the police. There were 103 last year, 113 in 2017 and 88 in 2016.
Homicide victims this year range from two 1-year-olds and a 14-year-old to a 65-year-old and an 85-year-old.
“This isn’t about firearm ownership,” Deck-Brown said. “It is about understanding the consequences of using that firearm.
Anyone with information that might assist detectives is asked to call Raleigh CrimeStoppers at (919) 834-HELP or visit raleighcrimestoppers.org for text and email reporting options. CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards for anonymous tips that help solve cases.
This story was originally published December 10, 2019 at 8:45 AM.