5 injured, 3 seriously, in Friday night shootings at Charlotte recording studio

Three teenagers were charged Saturday in connection with shootings late Friday at the NC Music Factory that sent five people to Charlotte hospitals, three with life-threatening injuries, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said.

Chris Ardrey, 19, and Cario Davis, 18, were charged with multiple offenses in the incident and were being held at the Mecklenburg County Jail. Police stopped their car about an hour after the shootings and found weapons inside. They were interviewed early Saturday and arrested.

Ardrey was charged with armed robbery, attempted armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, possession of firearm by a convicted felon, possession of stolen firearm and alter or remove a serial number from a firearm. Davis was charged with all those offenses, in addition to assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, police said.

Police also identified Jason Farmer, 18, as a third suspect in the case. He was one of the five wounded and taken to Carolinas Medical Center with serious injuries. CMPD detectives have obtained warrants for his arrest once he is released from the hospital. He will be charged with armed robbery, attempted armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and possession of firearm by a convicted felon.

Police say a total of six people were injured, one from flying glass.

The shootings began just before 10 p.m. Friday at the NC Music Factory campus. Police say an altercation broke out at the Queen City Underground, a recording studio, between several people and spilled into a parking lot.

“Those subjects then began shooting at each other,” a police statement said early Saturday. “The subjects exited the business and continued shooting at each other.”

As of late Saturday morning, police weren’t saying what triggered the incidents.

They followed six fatal shootings over the past week, including five during the Labor Day weekend in which one of the victims was a 7-year-old boy. CMPD attributed that weekend’s violence to retaliatory shootings between gangs.

Noah Lazes, president of the ARK Group that developed and manages the NC Music Factory, said in a statement that the altercation began in the band rehearsal studios and that security cameras recorded the incident.

“Both uniformed security as well as hired off-duty CMPD (officers) responded in short order,” the statement said. Lazes said the shooting suspects were taken into custody.

One victim went to the nearby VBGB beer hall for help. That business shares the parking with the recording studio.

When police arrived, they found a woman and two men suffering from gunshot wounds in the parking lot. Medic transported them to Carolinas Medical Center with potentially life-threatening injuries.

Minutes after that, they found a wounded man in a car at Spring and Callahan streets, police said. The man had driven himself to that intersection from Hamilton Street, stopped and called for help. Medic also took him to CMC with non-life-threatening injuries. A fifth victim drove himself to Novant’s Presbyterian Hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

Lazes said multiple large events were taking place throughout the campus when the shootings started, including a sold-out outdoor concert in Fountain Plaza that thousands had attended. All events were completed, he said.

“We are deeply saddened by the horrendous actions of these individuals and want to assure all that we remain committted to doing our best to prevent such isolated incidents and insuring public safety,” Lazes said. “This type of behavior will not be tolerated at the NC Music Factory and the fact that these individuals were (stopped and questioned) in under 60 minutes we hope further sends a firm statement that crime at our campus will not go unpunished.”

Anyone with information about the shootings should call 704-432-TIPS or Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.

This story was originally published September 12, 2015 at 1:06 PM with the headline "5 injured, 3 seriously, in Friday night shootings at Charlotte recording studio."