‘This is not a game’: Charlotte NYE shooter sentenced

CHARLOTTE — The man who shot 5 people celebrating New Year’s Eve in Romare Bearden Park last year will spend up to three years behind bars. Daevion Crawford, 20, pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury Monday morning.

Under the terms of the plea deal with the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office, Crawford will spend 20 to 36 months behind bars with credit for 350 days served. He will then have to complete 36 months of supervised probation and a cognitive behavioral intervention course. If he violates that probation, he will have to serve an additional 20-36 months.

Judge Carla Archie accepted the guilty plea.

“I hope these past decisions will not be an indication of your future decisions. Your decisions have consequences” Judge Archie said. “But for the grace of God, no one is dead. But I want you to think hard on the decisions you make from here on out.”

In court, Crawford only spoke when addressed by the judge. He didn’t apologize or address any of the five victims. His attorney, Eddie Thomas, claimed he was remorseful

“He never meant to harm anyone,” Thomas said. “Certainly not innocent bystanders.”

Thomas said the shooting stemmed from a dispute between Crawford and someone who broke into his good friend’s car. He says that person found out that Crawford knew he broke in and thought he was snitching. He claims threats and words were exchanged on social media. According to Thomas, Crawford got a gun to protect himself from that person.

The attorney says Crawford brought the gun with him on New Year’s Eve while he and two friends were in Uptown. Thomas says Crawford and his friends were walking through Romare Bearden Park when they saw that man. Thomas claims the man said something threatening to Crawford and then started to reach toward him. He says Crawford fired his weapon in response.

“It is a mistake that he made but at the moment he thought it was right,” Thomas said. “But now he recognizes the danger to everyone else.”

Assistant District Attorney Maria Caino says after the shooting, Crawford ran. She says detectives with CMPD’s real time crime center were able to give officers a description of Crawford. CMPD then used cameras to track Crawford and his friends as they tried to flee. Caino says while Crawford was running, he bumped into a police officer. The officer saw the magazine hanging out of his pocket.

CMPD was able to arrest Crawford after he returned to the scene looking for his cell phone.

“The defendant and some of his friends went back to the scene of the shooting because the defendant dropped his phone there,” Caino said. “They were waiting outside the taped area when he was spotted and detained.”

Caino says he had on him a 45-caliber magazine with 13 rounds in it.

In the days after the shooting, Caino says Crawford’s girlfriend called him in jail to say his mom got the gun and hid it in his aunt’s house in a safe. CMPD was listening to the call and recovered the gun after obtaining a search warrant. Caino says his mom would later call him in jail to yell at him for saying too much in jail calls.

Five people were hurt by Crawford. Cirilo Gonzalez Cruz suffered a gunshot wound to his right foot. It went through his foot and almost severed three toes and he had to have surgery to reconnect them. Amanda Salazar was shot in the right leg below the knee. Deashia Gaddy was shot in the right leg. Laura Trochin was shot in the right ankle. Caino says the bullet shattered her tibia and she had to have a metal rod installed in her leg to keep it together. Vanessa Daumen was shot in the bottom of her right foot.

Trochin was working as an au pair. The couple she was staying with told Judge Archie that Trochin had to return to Italy after the shooting and that she is still suffering physically and emotionally.

“She didn’t feel safe in this country anymore,” the couple told Judge Archie.

Crawford had zero prior record points. Judge Archie told Crawford she hopes he learns from this.

“This is not a game,” she said. “You have one life and that is it.”

(VIDEO > ‘Swift justice’: Family of murdered parking enforcement worker speaks out)

‘Swift justice’: Family of murdered parking enforcement worker speaks out

©2024 Cox Media Group