Details emerge in shooting incident that killed Charlotte 7-year-old
The shooting started when the pinata broke. A purple pinata with a princess theme, the big moment for a 2-year-old girl’s birthday party.
Candy had just rained down on the small front yard of the house at the dead end of Fieldvale Drive in the Springfield subdivision off Nation’s Ford Road and children were scrambling for treats when several men suddenly opened fire Saturday night.
When the shooting stopped, three people were injured and a 7-year-old boy, Kevin Antonio Calderon Rodas, was dead.
A few hours later, just after midnight, another shooting broke out around the corner from Fieldvale, on Echodale Drive. In that shooting, two people were sitting on the porch of a house when shots were fired. Laquanta Franchez Young, 30, was killed and a man who lived in the house was injured.
The shootings in Springfield were two of several violent incidents over the Labor Day weekend. Eleven people were injured in shootings at five locations and five have died. So far in Mecklenburg County, there have been 43 homicides in 2015, more than for all of the year before.
In Springfield, police investigators are still trying to determine if the two shootings, about five blocks apart, were connected.
“That’s one of the things we’re working hard to determine, to figure what’s connected and what’s not,” said CMPD Deputy Chief Jeff Estes. There were few witnesses and police are hoping for tips.
On Monday morning at the house on Fieldvale Drive, the tattered remains of the purple pinata were still hanging from the upper branches of the tree. Next to the tree, cardboard was taped over the broken rear window of a car pocked with bullet holes.
A half-dozen cars and trucks were pulled up while family members packed up, getting ready to leave. No one wants to stay there anymore.
Kevin Rodas’ cousin, Cristian Rodas, 11, lived in the house with his parents. His cousin Kevin lived on Albemarle Road with his mother. The Rodases are a large extended family, mostly from Honduras. On Saturday, 15 to 20 people had gathered for the birthday party.
On Monday, Cristian was struggling to make sense of it.
“We don’t know why they shot Kevin,” he said. “Did he do something?”
Cristian said he was in the front yard Saturday, enjoying the party for the little girl, his uncle Jose Gomez Rodas’ niece. The princess pinata was for her.
“She was happy when they were ripping it,” he said. “Then her birthday got all wrong.”
He said he saw four men on the street, watching. Police believe they came from the woods next to the house. When the pinata broke, they suddenly opened fire.
“I tried to save Kevin, but I couldn’t,” Cristian said Monday. “I tried to grab him, but they were shooting at me. My mother was in the house, yelling for me to get inside. People tried to save him, but it was too late.”
At the door of the house, Cristian’s 3-year-old cousin, Jonathan, came to the door, smiling shyly.
“He doesn’t get what happened,” Cristian said. “He got scared when they started shooting. He thought they were fireworks. He thought it was a game with a gun.”
Kathleen Purvis: 704-358-5236, @kathleenpurvis
Do you have information?
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police are seeking any information in the rash of shootings over the Labor Day weekend. If you have any information about the incidents, police ask that you call 704-432-TIPS (704-432-8477) and talk directly with a homicide unit detective.
This story was originally published September 7, 2015 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Details emerge in shooting incident that killed Charlotte 7-year-old."