Sunday, September 25, 2016

Charlotte Protester Justin Carr ‘Died for a Cause,’ His Mother Says
BY JOE MARUSAK
jmarusak@charlotteobserver.com

The mother of 26-year-old Justin Carr, who was fatally shot during protests in uptown on Wednesday night, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Friday that her son died for a cause.

Vivian Carr said her son wanted to tell his grandmother, who marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., that he had taken part in the protest.

“ ‘I just want to come down here and help out,’” Vivian Carr said her son told her.

Police said they found Carr suffering from a gunshot wound in the 100 block of East Trade Street at about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Carr was shot in the head, Observer news partner WBTV reported, citing a police report.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police on Friday arrested Rayquan Borum, 21, of Charlotte on charges of first-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a felon and being a fugitive from another state.

Carr joined hundreds of others protesting the fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott as he waited in the parking lot of a University area apartment complex for his son to get off the school bus.

During protests on Thursday over Scott’s death, participants paused marching and chanting briefly for a moment of silence in Carr’s memory. A small memorial with candles was set up for Carr.

The memorial was near the Omni Hotel, at the approximate spot where officials say Carr was shot. He died Thursday afternoon at Carolinas Medical Center.

Vivian Carr told CNN’s Cooper that her son was a good man who liked to talk. A favorite topic was his expectations as a father to be, she said. A son is due in late October.

“He was so excited,” Vivian Carr told Cooper. “He wanted to teach him how to play sports, just as he did.”

Carr’s brother Kenneth told Cooper that Justin often spoke about social issues that touched his heart.

“Justin never had any problem speaking out about any particular situation or cause,” Kenneth Carr told Cooper.

Anna Douglas of McClatchy’s Washington, D.C., bureau contributed.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article103889891.html#storylink=cpy

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