Friday, April 22, 2011

Mid Morning Shooting and Death On a Quiet South Charlotte Street


Photo Credit: Diedra Laird The Local Paper

Good Friday's weather was fittingly overcast with intermittent rain. The reduced amount of traffic and a post rush hour start to the holiday weekend ahead made a stop at Caribou Coffee an easy choice for Robert Barber and his wife Deborah. A choice that less that an hour later would become tragic.

Police say that Dr. Barber and his wife went to Caribou Coffee on Fairview Road Friday morning. Barber's wife then drove to work and Barber elected to walk to his home, on Dunwick Place, just off of Carmel Road and a little more than two and a half miles away.

Mullens Ford Road is a locally known short cut to the small Foxcroft East neighborhood shopping center. The road runs behind the immaculately groomed athletic fields of Charlotte Country Day School and ends at Carmel road.

Dt. Barber left the Foxcroft East shopping center and began his walk home carrying his newspaper and coffee. He made his way along the sidewalk of Simsbury Road and then a short while later turned left on to Mullens Ford. The lawns of well maintained 500 thousand dollar homes and a nearly continuous canopy of oak and maple trees would provide a pleasant shelter from the rain.

As he walked past a group of apartments, where the sidewalk ends he may have noticed a young black man shadowing him, but probably gave the young man little thought as the rain increased and he stepped carefully over puddles of rain in the curbside gutters and into the street.

By the time Dr. Barber reached the corner of Mullens Ford and Manor Mill Road the black man had caught up to him.

Around 10:30 Police officers respond to a call on Mullens Ford Road and a report of shots fired. What they found was the body of 64 year old Robert Latimer Barber face down on the pavement dead of an apparent gunshot wound.

They soon learned the man they found dead was the director of financial services at Carolinas HealthCare, that he had a doctorate in health care administration from the Medical University of South Carolina, and had retired from the U.S. Air Force as a colonel.

Dr. Barber's newspaper was still in his hand.

Police quickly wrapped the area in crime scene tape and officers talked in groups among themselves and interviewed neighbors in pairs. Deputy Police Chief Harold Medlock leaded against the street sign marking the corner of Mullens Ford and Manor Mill Road. A black trap lay across the body of a man who an hour ago was enjoying a simple cup of coffee with his wife of many years. District Attorney Andrew Murray made an appearance his navy blazer, blue jeans and tie a sharp contrast to the uniforms and more causally dressed neighbors.

A CMPD helicopter hovered overhead, as an officer with a German Shepard walked around the crime scene. At one point the police dog was turned off leash but found nothing.

The suspect a young black man was last seen running back up Mullens Ford Road towards Simsbury Road and the Foxcroft East Shopping Center.

Three hours later the rain slowed, and was replaced by a steady mist. The emergency flashers of WSOC TV's News Truck the only sign of a news worthy event. Gone were the police cruisers and crime scene tape. The fire department and paramedics were gone as well and neighbors had returned to their homes. All that was left to do was pass the hours til it was time for the 5 O'clock newscast and a tease that comes with being "WSOC" promising an answer to why the Mecklenburg County DA was on the scene that would be held until the 6PM repeat of the facts.

Cars speed along Carmel Road just a block away and life goes on.

Charlotte Police describe the suspect as a black male with a dark complexion and a short hair cut, between 20-30 years of age, 6'2" tall and skinny, and last seen wearing dark pants and a white and black plaid shirt or jacket.

More details from WBTV News here.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

I swear we need to hang this one in a tree.

MeckDeck said...

Makes me wonder if this was a frustrated burglar who intended to hit some high dollar homes as soon as every was at work, but forgot it was Good Friday. So he burns an hour looking, looking and freaking out more and more before a target of opportunity presents itself.

Has CarolinasHealth Care offered up a reward yet?

Anonymous said...

This incident is exactly why you bunch of do-gooders,rehabilitators,non death penalty supporters, need to get it thru your thick head that POS like this need to be fried. I dont care how his mama treated him!!!!!

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Anon 11:22
Please, that kind of redneck, ignorant comment shows how far we still must go.
Cedar, please remove.

Anonymous said...

Oh 12:28 untangle your soiled panties. 11:22 spoke the truth. This was a hate crime, just the J & W robberies. Like the late Klansman and democrat from WV, Bob Byrd, we have white niggers to.

Anonymous said...

Crime happens! No matter what your race, you can be either the offender or the victim.

However, it does appear that the number of crimes blacks commit on whites has increased....seems to me we are no further than we were back in 1964 with comments like these.

Either that or our great "leaders" (and I use that term ever so loosely) do not care unless it is a black person who is the victim.

Anonymous said...

Anon2:03
Using the "n" word to describe blacks or whites is offensive.
And to offend was how it was used here.
Ignorance......

Anonymous said...
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Rea Road Neighborhood Coalition said...

I'm not sure what to do here.

On one hand I know that the "N" word is offensive to many on the other hand I'm pretty sure that the "N" word in this case fits.

But since I don't see Mayor Foxx, Vilma Leake or even Chief Monroe as deserving of the lable, so I'm going to edit the 11:22 comment and remove the word.

Honestly I feel for any black man in Charlotte because they are again judged not by their actions but by the color of their skin.

The murder of Chris Radok on January 10, the murder of Christopher Satterfield on April 6 and now the murder of Robert Barber on April 22.

In each case the killer was black and the crime was committed while trying to rob the white victim.

My advice to young black men, stay away from white people and for God's sake don't make any sudden moves.

Rea Road Neighborhood Coalition said...

Edited 11:22 Comment

I guess it would be to much to ask some of the MoFo's that run Charlotte (Foxx, Vilma, Dunlap, romo et al) to ask that those in their community (to)turn in who(ever) did this.

There are some MoFo's in charlotte that know who did this. Did you ever notice it is the MoFo democrat pols that want to disarm the white folks?

MeckDeck said...

CMPD still on the scene tonite canvassing, showing the flag.

I'm told the widow is very well-known and popular real estate agent -- or was until recently.

Hope they pick something up this weekend.

Anonymous said...

Where is the outrage? Where is the justified anger by Charlotte residents? When several DOGS were shot at a landfill, a large number of folks got really upset. They used the term ''murder'' and ''heinous'' and degraded anyone who had a different opinion of it.

Something is wrong...VERY wrong in Charlotte.

Just what will it take ??? 25 black nuns to be set on fire???

What will it take??? YOUR grandfather to be killed? YOUR mother raped?? YOUR child kidnapped??? What will it take???

YOUR door kicked in and YOUR home violated??? Will YOUR kid be the next gang-member??? How many more cops should be murdered before YOU say a word??? The last time YOU voted for some ''progressive'' liberal....did YOU think of the results of a criminal friendly ''city leader'' being in power that thinks a criminal's ''rights'' are MORE important than the victim's?? What about the Grand-kids of this man??? Or his friends...co-workers...fellow church members??? How many more INNOCENT people will have to be sacrificed at the altar of apathy and liberalism??? RIP Charlotte,NC...you were once a fine Southern jewel of the South. My prayers and sympathy to the friend/family/friends.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

MeckDeck:
What do you mean "or was until recently"?

Anonymous said...

So where is Chief Monroe?

Understand from your tweets that DC Medlock was on the scene, but where was RoMo?

Whatever happened to his promise to respond to every homicide? Oh but that would be phoney degree Rodney, lies? what lies?

Ghoul said...

Anon @ 8:09, I saw plenty of outrage on the Charlotte Observer website. Of course you can't see it now, or the outrage over the murder in Rock Hill last night, or the robberies at Johnson & Wales, because the Observer would rather more people become the victims of crime than offend a certain segment of the population that doesn't buy their paper anyway.

MeckDeck said...

She may have retired, I do not know.

Anonymous said...

Collective Punishment is the answer. Take the perp and select ten others from the Mecklenburg County Jail then string them up along Poplar Street uptown just like they used to do.

Won't take long before we either get the black segment of the population to shape up or we run out of Africans.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone notice that the Observer will not publish any comments on this horror story on their web site?

I expect it is because the suspect is black and that is a protected class with them. If guilty,the killer should be made part of a "Mississippi wind chime"in the parking lot of the newspaper.

Anonymous said...

I'd just like to find a white lady with the ass of a black lady

Anonymous said...

Racism IS alive and well and seems to be thriving in Charlotte!
I guess I am not really surprised........

Anonymous said...

Arm yourselves, carry your weapon and be ready to use that weapon. A criminal waits for the opportunity and it can happen ANYWHERE, even in your front yard as you stroll to your door. If you carry that weapon you better train with it and be comfortable with it. This is anoher example why we need to protect ourselves, this city is not going to get better but will only get worse. There are many more thugs like this on our city that are just waiting for you and you can bet your ass they are not afraid to take your life for a few dollars.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

I really can't believe the jackasses that are posting their racist rants on here.
There are plenty of white supremacy nazi blogs out there... Go find yourselves one.
And don't bring this Blog down to the level you are trying to....
You can't enlighten OR educate ignorance.

Anonymous said...

Could y'all help me out with something? If you could stop posting comments with the "N" word if would really help me out.

Not that I want to be all PC and such but saying MoFo gets the point across just as well and we'll all know what you mean.

I think we all know what kind of person this punk is. I kinda goes with out saying.

Anonymous said...

Cedar Posts, I just wanted to let you know that I really like how you tell stories, you have a way of putting real feeling into even the coldest facts.

The news missed the point, the rain the wet sidewalks and gutters, the feeling of the day and the sadness fear it has left everyone feeling.

Thank you for posting this.