Fifteen-year-old Steven Gomez was shot and killed on February 12, 2023, at a relative’s home on Coriander Court in east Charlotte, North Carolina. Steven, a freshman at Independence High School, was playing video games with friends and family when someone in the room was handling a firearm and it discharged. Steven was fatally wounded and died at the scene.

Authorities initially treated the incident as an accidental shooting, but the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department later identified 32-year-old Kendal Morris as a suspect. Morris, described as a local mixed martial arts fighter, was arrested in Key West, Florida, on March 4, 2023, and charged with involuntary manslaughter. His arrest involved CMPD, the Key West Police Department, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement; authorities planned to extradite him to Mecklenburg County to face charges.

What information do readers in the Charlotte area have about the hours leading up to the shooting or who was present that evening?