CHARLOTTE — Brianye Copeland was shot and killed just feet from the entrance to the Ella B. Scarborough Community Resource Center last week. She was 27 years old.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said Copeland was shot just before 10 a.m. Friday in the parking lot of the center on Stitt Road. Kristopher Sinclair, 38, was arrested for the crime and charged with first-degree murder.
Copeland’s cousin said she achieved a lot in her life and those accomplishments are how she should be remembered.
“She was just a really sweet girl. To know her was to love her. I’ve never seen her get into it with anybody. Argue with anybody,” De’Ajala Harris told Channel 9′s Eli Brand.
Harris said her cousin was always smiling and doing what she could for others.
They became close in the seventh grade and were inseparable.
Harris said the only time they weren’t together growing up was when Copeland was with her dad working on her passion – basketball. Work Harris said paid off when Copeland earned a chance to play in college.
“She just was a different woman. She just was graceful and elegant, and I don’t think she had a bad bone in her body,” Harris said.
All of those achievements and qualities, Harris said, make what happened to Copeland all the more tragic.
Harris said she moved to Minnesota and hadn’t seen her cousin in person in a while but she’ll always remember her qualities, carrying them forever.
“It’s always going to be her smile and her personality. She was just so bubbly and so upbeat and just happy and friendly. Always,” Harris said.
Caught with a confession
Police detectives spoke to witnesses and got surveillance video from the parking lot, and they were able to quickly track down the suspect in Copeland’s killing, according to new court documents obtained by Channel 9 on Monday.
Investigators tracked down the suspect, Kristopher Sinclair, to an apartment complex just down the road from the resource center parking lot. Witnesses told investigators he was spotted going into the woods nearby, and he was arrested after he went back to his car.
A K-9 helped detectives find the area in the woods where Sinclair went, and they found a backpack on the ground with Sinclair’s driver license and a five-page hand-written note, according to the affidavit. The note makes references to the victim, including “I will not harm anyone else,” and “When cops show up, I’m going to ... hell.” The affidavit doesn’t specify when or where the note was written.
Sinclair was charged with first-degree murder and held without bond as of Monday.
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