Charlotte, NC (September 23, 2026) - A 9-year-old child was struck by a vehicle and hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries during an incident in which two shooting victims died at hospitals, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

The incident occurred around 6 p.m. Wednesday in an apartment-complex parking lot near Leake Street and Nobles Avenue, off West Boulevard, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Officers responded to the 3100 block of Nobles Avenue after a report of an assault with a deadly weapon involving injuries.

Officers found two men with gunshot wounds, and both were taken to a hospital. One later died. Police learned that another shooting victim had reached a hospital independently and also died. De'Andre Patton, 26, was identified as one of the men who died. A third shooting victim survived, according to the initial police account.

A CMPD police report also listed a 63-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man as involved but unharmed. Police said the child’s injuries resulted from being struck by a vehicle, separate from the gunshot injuries.

CMPD Major Michael Ford said the incident appeared to have followed an altercation involving people at the scene. At the time of the initial account, investigators were determining how the shooting and vehicle collision were connected. The department’s Homicide Unit and Crime Scene Search team were investigating and collecting evidence. No suspects had been publicly identified at that time.

Keep a Child’s Hospital Update Separate From the Public Account

The 9-year-old struck in the apartment parking lot was hospitalized with injuries police described as non-life-threatening. For caregivers communicating after a child’s hospitalization, a useful update can acknowledge what happened without sharing treatment details. Agreeing on a short message and its intended audience helps keep a public incident report from becoming an open discussion of a child’s medical care.

A police description of injury severity is information from the initial response, not a continuing hospital update. It should not be expanded into claims about recovery or discharge. Legal questions about a vehicle injury, such as those discussed in Beyond Medical Bills, can also be kept separate from the message shared with a wider circle.

Before circulating an update, agree on which details may be shared and whether recipients may forward it. Permission to tell one relative does not necessarily reflect agreement to post the same information in a neighborhood group. A newly written summary allows caregivers to communicate the agreed information without exposing the unrelated details, images or earlier messages that may accompany a forwarded hospital conversation.

Different recipients may need different information. If a caregiver contacts a pedestrian injury lawyer about a vehicle injury, asking what information that inquiry requires is more purposeful than sending an entire family message thread. That separate exchange need not determine what friends or neighbors receive. These are practical communication choices, not statements about anyone’s legal authority to release a child’s information.

Choose the Audience Before Sending the Update

After a child’s vehicle injury, the next message need not contain every new detail. Before sending it, confirm who needs the update and whether the agreed wording may be passed along. Send that version rather than forwarding medical messages or hospital images. Recipients can respect those boundaries by checking before sharing beyond the intended group. A short update can keep people informed without making the child’s hospital experience public.