On June 25, 2022, one-year-old Q’arysnn Maske of Charlotte, North Carolina, was killed when a gun carried by a child at an apartment complex on Wallace Road off Monroe Road accidentally discharged after 8 p.m. Q’arysnn was holding her seven-year-old brother when the weapon went off; both children were struck. Q’arysnn was taken to a hospital and later died of her injuries. Her brother survived with non-life-threatening wounds and was hospitalized.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department opened a death investigation. No arrests or charges have been filed, and investigators describe the incident as a tragic accident rather than a deliberate act. Family and the southeast Charlotte community have mourned Q’arysnn, with her mother Shaqua Maske calling for respect and peace while caring for her other children.

If anyone saw what happened that evening or has information about how the gun came to be accessible to children, please come forward.