CHARLOTTE — More than eight years after Everette Lynn was shot and left to die on East Independence Boulevard, his family continues to search for answers. The 43-year-old father of three was killed in November 2016, and his case remains unsolved. For his loved ones, including his father, a retired police investigator, the pain of unanswered questions lingers.
A crash that happened on Nov. 5, 2016, on East Independence Boulevard turned into an unsolved crime.
Family members visit Oaklawn Cemetery weekly, which is where Everette Lynn was buried.
“I miss him, and always miss him,” said his father, Willie Lynn. “And the sad thing about it is that his mother went to her grave, which is a family plot right in this area here, without knowing who did it, and that bothered her. That weighed heavily on her mind until she passed.”
Willie Lynn knows what delivering the worst news to loved ones is like.
He retired from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department as a missing persons investigator.
“No, never in a million years did I think something would happen to one of my kids that would cause the police to come to the door,” he said.
“Everette was just a carefree guy,” said his younger sister, Leah Lynn. “I kind of called him Peter Pan. He just never really wanted to grow up. Life of the party. Always making people laugh.”
Everette Lynn made a phone call at 1:49 a.m. that morning and was shot just a few minutes later.
Police think he lived for maybe 10 or 15 seconds before wrecking his vehicle in the median at East Independence Boulevard and Briar Creek Road.
“They left my brother there on the side of the road like he was just trash, like he was trash, and I don’t understand that,” said Leah Lynn. “I have a nephew at home that will never know his dad, because Colby was three months old when my brother passed away.”
Everette Lynn was the father of three children.
His sister said he worked hard to support his children.
“So, he was a barber, a master barber, he had been cutting hair well over 10 years when he passed,” she said. “That’s pretty much all he did.”
Willie Lynn was a police officer for 20 years and said he understands how cases can stall. He urges other families to have patience.
“The police are doing what they can do,” he said. “There are only so many leads you can follow up.”
There is a $15,000 Crimestoppers reward for information.
