Gunfire erupted in the food court at Eastland Mall as members of the Hidden Valley Kings gang attempted to mow down drug dealer Juan Lawrence
Gunfire erupted in the food court at Eastland Mall as members of the Hidden Valley Kings gang attempted to mow down drug dealer Juan Lawrence while shoppers at the troubled mall ducked for cover.
Later that night, still hot on Lawrence's trail, cars full of HVK gangsters traded shots with Lawrence by car, weaving in and out of traffic."There was a rolling shootout going up North Tryon Street," U.S. District Attorney Kevin Zolot told the History Channel. "They were literally driving down a main thoroughfare in Charlotte and shooting at each other. It was almost like the Wild West."According to the documentary currently airing on the History Channel about Charlotte's Hidden Valley Kings gang, after Lawrence crashed his car, gang members carrying guns hunted him street by street, at times running through people's homes. They eventually caught up to him and executed him with a high-powered rifle.high-ranking members of the Kings were eventually busted though a joint effort by the police and the FBI in 2007 was widely reported here. But the sheer size, organization and murderous tendencies of the 500-member gang laid out in the documentary was a largely untold story locally. The gang was described by police officers as having the potential to be among the biggest money makers in Charlotte with a lucrative drug trade run out of the Hidden Valley neighborhood that gang members at times protected with mounted machine guns and AK-47s.
