Community calls for action after seventh homicide in Asheville this year

By WLOS Staff

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Asheville police are investigating a shooting early Friday morning that left one man dead.

Police say officers were called to a reported gunshot wound at Hillcrest Apartments along Atkinson Street at around 2:24 a.m. on July 26.

Officers found Denzel McKnight, 31, with a gunshot wound at the scene. Police say he was taken to Mission Hospital, where he died.

Friends of McKnight are posting tributes to him on Facebook.

“Denzel McKnight, rest easy,” one man posted.

Dee Williams, a longtime Asheville community activist, said she is aware of a string of murders involving young black men this summer.

“It’s my understanding there was just a gathering of multiple individuals,” said Detective Sgt. Cecil Wade with APD. “They located seven shell casings at the scene.”

Detective Wade said investigators believe the casings came from a 9-mm handgun, but the department must wait for ballistics to confirm the gun used to shoot and kill Denzel McKnight.

Grant did not know Denzel McKnight, but he knows that his family is suffering and in grief.

Asheville investigators confirm they have spoken with witnesses from Friday morning, but ask additional witnesses to come forward with information to identify the suspect, who remains at large.

Back in 2015, McKnight was shot in the face in Biltmore Village, when an argument erupted involving one man who pled guilty to shooting McKnight and another man. McKnight survived that shooting.

In Hillcrest on Friday morning, the bullets that were fired at him cost him his life.

Pastor Grant is calling on local leaders in the black community and leaders with Asheville to hold a forum and come up with targeted ways to decrease murders.

“We need to bring all the organizations together and see where the gaps are,” Grant said.

Dee Williams feels action is what is lacking in her community of African-American families and leaders in Asheville.

She went on to say there has been nothing done to disrupt the pattern of violence and killings.

News 13 spoke with a man in Hillcrest on Friday night who declined to give his name.

“You know this is the number one killer of black men,” he said, in reference to gun violence.

When asked if he knew Denzel McKnight, he responded. with: “I knew him my whole life.”

No arrests have been made in this case.

This marks Asheville’s seventh homicide of 2024, according to police.

Authorities said Criminal Investigations Division Detectives responded to the scene and continue investigating the shootings.

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