Remembering our riots and the lies that inspired them | Hour 1

What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to the peak calendar show.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support. So let us celebrate twas merely a decade ago that rioting gripped the queen city. Let us all recall where we were. Hmm. Yes. 10 years ago, 10 years ago. We, now we had, um, we've had, uh, a demonstration, a gathering, um, a, a, a group demanding answers, uh, Not about the toddler named Caleb Flax, who was murdered while he slept in his home in North Charlotte over the weekend, yesterday morning, 3 a.m. Sleeping in his bed, and. Some thugs drive up to the houses and just spray a whole bunch of houses with gunfire, and they murder the four-year-old. They hit a. There was no demanding of answers from the community for that. No, it was a demanding of answers for an officer-involved shooting where a man with a gun, or maybe it was a book, right? It could have been a book. That's the favorite rumor. That's the one that launched our fiery but mostly peaceful riots a decade. Ago, right? When the community... start spreading lies, right? They just make up stuff and spread lies around about what really happened whenever a police officer is involved in a shooting of an armed individual. Yeah, so a lot to get to today. A lot to get to. First, we start with the tragedy of this murder of this four-year-old child. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Investigating a homicide happened at about 3 a.m. Sunday morning on Grassy Patch Lane in northwest Charlotte. Officers responded to reports of shots being fired into occupied homes. According to CMPD, one juvenile was transported with life-threatening injuries and an adult was transported with non-life-threatening injuries. Just after 7 a.m., the juvenile was was pronounced dead at the hospital. That was four-year-old Caleb Flax. And our prayers go out to this family. It is awful. Absolutely horrific. A total of four houses were hit by gunfire. Caleb was asleep in his bedroom. His grandfather says he never woke up. Killed in his sleep. by a bunch of maniacs who I'm going to go out. All right. You know me, I don't really make predictions, but I feel pretty confident in this one. I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a prediction. If they ever identify any of the shooters involved in this, which that's, I'm not making a prediction that they will. I mean, heck we still have, what was it? Four dead from the Juneteenth, uh, massacre, uh, that occurred, what was that, five years ago, I want to. Say, still nary a lead on any of those people. So probably not going to get a lead on this, just like we don't have any leads on whoever it was that shot up the house of the Republican County Commission District 1 candidate, forcing him and his family to literally leave the county, abandon his run for office, and move out of the county. Don't have any suspects on that one. So I suspect we probably won't get any suspects on this either, despite that a four-year-old was murdered. And I'm sure there are people that know. I mean, we know that the shooters know they were involved in a homicide that killed a four-year-old child. I'm sure they know. And I'm sure some people outside of just the shooters have a pretty good idea. Of who might have been involved in it too. But I don't think you're going to get Any leads, just given the way these things generally go, probably not going to happen. But here's my prediction. But if they do make any arrests for this murder, my prediction is that the people involved will have a rap sheet. They will probably have interactions, shall we say, with law enforcement. I know. It's a pretty bold prediction, but I'm just basing this on the catch-and-release turnstile judicial system that we've been running in Mecklenburg County now for about 10 to 15 years or so. Going to make that prediction. They probably have some charges. Between them, I don't know how many people there were involved in the shooting. Probably at least two, maybe four. Don't know. Probably a few, you know. And between them, I'm guessing yes to prior law enforcement interactions. They hit four houses, and I'm assuming law enforcement's going to look at the occupants of all of the houses, find out is there anybody in any of the houses that had any kind of gang-related activities. Do they have any beefs with anyone in the neighborhood? I doubt it was the four year old or his family that was targeted. They were innocent bystanders more than likely. That's just a guess. I'm just speculating, but I can't believe that. Well, okay. Now that I say that, maybe, I mean, Ray Carruth, Ray Carruth did get out of prison. So unless it's like a Ray Carruth kind of a thing where you're trying to kill your own child to avoid paying, child support, but I doubt that. That is not a likely scenario. The more likely scenario is they were shooting at houses that they thought somebody that they were beefing with lived in. They found, so you saw the photo on the WSOC TV website. They've got a photo of the crime scene techs out there on the asphalt. And the whole ground is just littered. With those little crime scene markers, you know, the little upside-down Vs, little cards that they put down with a number on it to mark the evidence. It's just all over the pavement, indicating a lot of rounds were spent. One house took the brunt of the gunfire, and a woman inside that house was hit in the thigh. A stray bullet went into a house on the corner and into the bedroom of a 16-year-old. So they're actually, what, two different people who were hit besides the four-year-old. One neighbor said, quote, whoever is committing acts like this, they got to come off the streets. They definitely can't be among the public. Correct. That is why we want to see people put into prison when you engage in this kind of activity. You are engaging in antisocial, dangerous behavior. You are a threat to the community. You don't deserve to be among the community. You don't deserve the ability or the right to walk around threatening and endangering all of your fellow citizens. This is the primary function of the government. This is it. This is what you're supposed to be doing. All of the other stuff you do is secondary to this, public safety. Otherwise, there's no reason for me really to be supporting any of your other endeavors. Because if you cannot provide a blanket of security under which we may all live peaceably, then we cannot live peaceably if you're not providing the blanket, right? Pretty simple. Not aware of any kind of protesting or candlelight vigils or anything like that at this point for young Caleb. There might be. But the day prior, community members came out to demand answers after a person was killed in a shooting. Not the four-year-old that was murdered in the hail of gunfire. No, no. This was about the guy with the gun that police shot. Because this is what really gets people activated. If there's a police involved shooting, okay, fine, maybe the guy had a gun, or maybe it was a book like Keith Lamont Scott was alleged to have had, which turned out not to be true. That was not true. Just like hands up, don't shoot, not true. So they held an emotional night on Saturday as they gathered at a gas station to rally around the family of the man that police shot. 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It's totally private. No emails, phone numbers, account setups or hassles. With group travel videos, you'll capture today's moments on your special trip while they're happening. Then after the trip or gathering. They'll professionally turn your shared moments into a beautiful storytelling video that your whole group can stream and download and treasure for years. Check out GroupTravelVideos.com. That's GroupTravelVideos.com. Or call 704-846-7870, extension 206. And when you do that, ask for Katie. But Pete, can I just email? Well, yes, you can. You can email Katie. Katie at GroupTravelVideos.com. Group travel videos from old memories to new adventures, preserving life's moments for a lifetime. Over on the text line, Jeff says, Come on, Pete. We all know that the people that shot up the homes are model citizens and own their firearms legally and obey all the laws concerning gun ownership. Yes, obviously a bunch of people shooting into four homes in northwest Charlotte, killing a four-year-old child. I'm sure they're all legal gun owners. And I am sure that in order to clamp down on this kind of violence, we need to make it harder for legal gun owners to be legal gun owners. I'm sure that's the answer. Yes, obviously. So Hank says at this point, the shooters are potential victims. Justice involved individuals. Exactly. Yeah, probably formerly incarcerated. All of the euphemisms we want to come up with. Justice system adjacent. Yeah. Justice involved individuals who may become residents at the county jail. Maybe if they become residents, not my fault, McFadden will let them record a song. Yes, they'll get some studio time for their antisocial violence. Because the sheriff, by the way, the sheriff of Mecklenburg County, Gary, not my fault. McFadden, because nothing's ever his fault. He doesn't call them inmates. He calls them residents. Coach says, just imagine if they do catch any of these creeps and then we find out they were part of the release that Roy cut him loose. Cooper did. Ooh, that would be quite terrible for cut him loose. Cooper. If of course any media decide to report on it and, and ask him, um, Danny says, why have we allowed the democratic party to hold the city of Charlotte and the Mecklenburg city county school system hostage. It's evident there's no leadership here. Wake up, Charlotte. Okay. To be fair to me and to a lot of the people in the audience, we did not allow the Democrat party to hold the city and the county hostage. Democrats did this. Democrat voters have done this. That's why I keep saying this is a choice. So the people who are most victimized by the lack of public safety, by the crime in Mecklenburg County and in Charlotte, the people most victimized keep voting for the same party that allows the crime to continue as it is. There isn't, there's like Republicans cannot turn this tide. They can be a part of a tide turning, no doubt. However, they do not have the sufficient votes to to dislodge Democrat incumbents. And so this is the problem with one-party control of a jurisdiction. We talked about it on Friday with the school system. We have an update on that, by the way. But this is also a problem in the court system. I believe there's like a single Republican judge All of the others are elected and they're Democrats. So this is what people are picking. That's why I keep saying this is a choice. People keep choosing this and then lamenting the outcomes that are perfectly obvious. We have a track record. Allen says, not my fault. McFadden believes many of those dangerous people should be allowed to walk free. By the way, did you hear his outlandish comments during his WCNC interview over the week? I did not. I did not hear his outlandish comments. I mean, it's on brand for him. I'm not saying that that's surprising that he would make outlandish comments. I just haven't, I did not catch the story. I'll go look for it during the break. My wife says it's contagious. What is this, David? Is this from, what is this from? My wife said it's contagious. Steve the Lib's projection caused me to pledge allegiance to Donald Trump also. I have no idea what that's about. Is that from Vince's show or something? I don't know. Compelling and rich. This story from WBTV. Community members are demanding answers after a person was killed in a shooting involving Charlotte Mecklenburg police. It was an emotional night Saturday, September 19th, as people gathered at a gas station at the intersection of LaSalle Street and Newland Road, rallying around the family who identified the man killed as Curtis Massey. Community activists say they still have questions after the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released its account of what led up to the Friday, September 18th shooting. Well, yes. Um... You are not unique activists. Everybody is going to have questions about it. This is why. Now, just hear me out. Just hear me out. In order to answer questions, this is why an investigation is done. We do an investigation. So this way we can answer as many of the questions as possible. Now, if you are not interested in actually getting answers that come from an evidence-based investigation, then I guess you can feel free to answer your own questions with lies, speculation, conspiracy theories. I guess that's what we're doing nowadays, right? We just kind of ask a question and then answer it with another question. Or just make up a bunch of stuff and spread that rumor around. I mean, to be fair, we have been doing it for a decade. Because that's what led to the riots a decade ago in Charlotte. And launched the political career of one Braxton Winston, who was all over the local media. Ten years later, what have we learned? And Braxton parlayed his shirtless photo into a run for city council and all of this. Charlotte Observer did a massive spread. Massive spread. I read it through this weekend. I didn't even print it out. All it did was interview a bunch of leftist activists about how 10 years ago this changed everything and launched me in my career of activism. Yeah, they even highlighted like the first one after it was Braxton Winston. Number one, of course, and then it was Jamie Marsicano. Yeah. Yeah. Jamie Marcicano, no mention of the federal charges that guy's facing for his cop city Antifa protesting down in Georgia. No mention of that. Violent thug, who that is. That's who that is. No mention of that in the story. But just, you know, five or six of these leftists and their local groups and how the Keith Lamont Scott story, you know, You know, made them engaged in the activism and all of this. Based on lies. The initial stories that were circulating in the community a decade ago, which then prompted riots and the murder of a protester named Justin Carr. Who was shot by sightseers. Who was trying to shoot a cop missed the cop hit an innocent bystander murdered that guy murdered Justin Carr that's what your social justice rioting wrought that's what you guys did millions of dollars in damage ended the political career of Jennifer Roberts, which I guess like. That, okay, that is a benefit that came out of that. So, I mean, at least that did happen. But why? Because she refused to take the National Guard. That was offered to her by the governor at the time, Pat McCrory. We don't need no National Guard to put this down. And meanwhile, CMPD is like, yes, we do. Badly outnumbered. People swarming the streets, attacking businesses and such. Keith Lamont Scott, by the way, little known fact. Nobody ever really cares about this little known fact. The officer was justified in that shooting because Keith Lamont Scott had a gun. The whole thing was on video. We've seen all the video. He's in a standoff with the police in the middle of the parking lot. He's got a gun in his hand. He raises it up, and the officer that shoots him is a black man. But that didn't matter. He was holding a book. He was holding a book. That's what they said. That was the, quote, rumor. Well, here's how the Charlotte Observer reported it in their big write-up, you know, looking back a decade after Keith Lamont Scott. Outside that apartment, September 2016, and in the days that followed, authorities gave the public little information and rumors took hold. Rumors took hold. See that? Just this passive voice. Just, oh, rumors took hold. Scott was holding a book, not a gun. He didn't even own a weapon. It wasn't just one officer who shot him. There were several. Protesters threw rocks at officers and stomped on patrol cars. Police responded with tear gas and smoke bombs, batons and shields. Yes, when you engage in antisocial, violent rioting, the police have a duty, a sworn duty, to stop that violence. That's what we hire them to do. By the way, the idea that he was holding a book, not true. The idea that he did not own a gun, not true. In fact, the gun was stolen. Right? So, the rumors, the lies. That people spread just like with the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson. Oh, he was running away. It was hands up, don't shoot. And then they murdered him execution style or something. Same thing now happening with the shooting of Curtis Massey. Community activists say, oh, he was shot in the back. CMPD says that's not true. Community activist Cass Otley says this is deja vu. You know, we're right in the middle of when Jonathan Farrell got killed and Keith Lamont Scott got killed, right? And so we know how they shut down the neighborhood and they shut down communication and they throw a couple things out and then they don't say anything else. And that's a problem. Yeah. Better to, what, jeopardize the prosecution of the case by disclosing a whole bunch of information that's not verified? You'd rather that. Would you rather... the State Bureau. Of Investigation, which is doing the investigation, the SBI is doing this. You just want them to give you twice a day updates on all the leads they're pursuing or what they're doing at every given moment or what. This impatience that people have to find out the evidence and facts, this impatience is treated by media as proof of lack of transparency. And it is so infuriating. An investigation takes time. And I know everybody's got the attention span of a flea nowadays, but these things take time to figure out. You got to watch all the footage. You got to conduct all of the interviews. You have to process the crime scene. You have to do a lot of stuff. And when the shooting happens on a Friday and you're already out in the parking lot screaming about, we don't know what really happened. Guys, it hasn't even been 24 hours. CMPD said the SBI is investigating the shooting, which they expect will clear up lingering questions and unverified reports currently circulating. The shooting happened Friday afternoon. When police say they saw a group that they believed were involved in, quote, criminal activity. They approached the group. One person in the group saw the officers, immediately started walking away. Gee, I wonder why. They told them to stop, and then they started running. They chased the person. The person pulled out a gun and created what officers believed was an immediate threat. Because there's a gun. Because he drew a gun. That might be it. Officer fired, striking and killing the person. Let me go back to the text line. Scott says, Braxton Winston said, led riots against the city of Charlotte, riots that were based on lies. Those riots led to one person killed and another sent to prison, but Charlotte rewarded him by electing him to office. Correct. That is correct. Just absolutely atrocious. Um.... Danny asks, do you see in the foreseeable future people leaving Charlotte like they have left California and going somewhere else? Yes, we already see it. We've already seen it. That is one of the reasons why Mecklenburg County is now Democrat-controlled, is that Republicans left. Republican voters have gone to the surrounding areas. This has been going on for 25 years. I remember doing this story when I was a reporter here at WBT You could just follow the demographic shifts in the surrounding counties versus Mecklenburg County, and you can see they all flipped red, and they got redder and redder and redder, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg became bluer and bluer and bluer. Now, will that continue? Absolutely. And you will continue to see the most productive members of the society leaving the particular society, and you will find more and more parasitic people moving in to take advantage of the society that is left behind. That is the template. It occurs throughout human history. Unguarded stores of value will be set upon by parasites. It's what happens. If you do not protect the store of value that you have built up, it will be taken from you. And that's what we're seeing. People look no further than CMS. Right. You have a multibillion dollar operation. You have all of these. I gave this analogy last week. It's like a whale and all the pilot fish that swim alongside and gobble up the debris in its wake. Right. That's what they do. They're sort of parasitic. They're just eating off of the crumbs of the larger behemoth. That's why you have all of these NGOs and nonprofits. They get all these contracts and stuff because when you, same thing with the Medicaid fraud all around the country, right? When you have this massive level of government, massive budgets, funding, massive programs, you have massive opportunity for waste and fraud and abuse. And bad actors will get into the process and they will take advantage. All right, let me get Tony on before the news. Hello, Tony. Welcome to the show. I have about a minute, sir. All right, Pete, how are you? I appreciate you being the voice of reason and rationale in regards to this CMPD shooting over the weekend. We've spoken in the past based on my prior experience in law enforcement. I came from a Democrat-controlled county and town, but for the most part, they supported what we had to do in our mission. And I'd like to see the protest and the outrage over the fact that a four-year-old gets shot and killed sleeping in his bed. Where's the outrage and the outcry for that? Yeah, and what about the police and investigators that have to respond to that scene and have to try to save the life of a four-year-old little kid? And, you know, there's no mention of the work that law enforcement does trying to save that child's life. And even the whole shooting in the back scenario can still be justified if you have somebody who's running and they're drawing a gun from their waistband. and the process of turning and you shoot, could they possibly be shot in the back? Yes. Could it be justified? Absolutely. Let's see what the facts of this case come out for before we jump all over this. And I appreciate that you are one of the few voices out there saying this. Yeah, just all I ask for is patience. I don't know what happened at this point. Nobody does except the people that were there. So let's wait for the investigation. Tony, I appreciate the call. Thanks for your service as well. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to the Pete calendar show.com again thank you so much for listening and don't break anything while i'm gone