CHARLOTTE, North Carolina – Police said Tuesday they were investigating whether the 36-year-old adopted brother of a pregnant teenager killed at a school bus stop fathered the girl's baby.
Royce Mitchell was also being questioned in the death of his adopted sister Tiffany Wright, 15, but Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police spokesman Bob Fey characterized him as a person of interest rather than a suspect.
Wright, who was eight months pregnant, was shot early Monday while she waited at a school bus stop in north Charlotte. She later died at a hospital. Police have said the slaying stemmed from a domestic dispute.
Wright's baby was delivered at Carolinas Medical Center hours after the shooting. The child had been in critical condition Monday. A hospital spokeswoman declined to provide the baby's condition Tuesday morning.
Mitchell turned himself in Monday on an outstanding warrant charging him with statutory rape and taking indecent liberties with a minor. It was unclear whether those charges were related to Wright.
He was being held Tuesday in the Mecklenburg County Jail without bond. He will likely retain an attorney after an initial court hearing on Tuesday. Mitchell was a street maintenance worker for the city.
Mitchell's parents had adopted Wright, Fey said.
Wright's grandmother, Shirley Boston of Buffalo, New York, said the girl was born in the northeastern New York city, where her father also lives. Boston said Tuesday that Wright was placed in foster care after the girl's mother lost custody. Boston said she does not know how her granddaughter ended up in Charlotte.
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