A 44-year-old man was shot and killed around 3 a.m. Monday outside Tender Heart Child Care Inc., a 24-hour day care on the 2300 block of North Sharon Amity Road, after police say he previously confronted two men over a suspected catalytic converter theft. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police identified the victim as Alvert Lowery and announced arrests later in the week.
Detectives said Lowery was found unresponsive in the driver’s seat of a car that had been struck by gunfire. He was taken to Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center with multiple wounds and pronounced dead. The case matters because investigators now tie the killing to an alleged property crime encounter hours earlier and have charged two suspects with first-degree murder, moving the case quickly into the court system. Officials stressed no rounds struck the day care building, but the shooting unfolded feet from a facility that operates overnight, raising concerns about violence near child-care centers.
Police said officers were dispatched at approximately 3:03 a.m. on Dec. 15 to reports of an assault with a deadly weapon in the Providence Division. According to an affidavit referenced by investigators, Lowery’s wife called 911 after hearing shots outside the day care and, unable to reach him by phone, found him wounded behind the wheel. Surveillance footage reviewed by detectives indicates Lowery had confronted the suspects earlier after seeing what he believed was an attempt to steal a catalytic converter. “He was shot just hours after that confrontation,” a police summary said, noting a Chevrolet Malibu at the scene bore several bullet holes as evidence technicians began documenting the lot.
On Friday, police announced the arrests of 33-year-old Rethanachantra Em and 32-year-old Borein Ngiem in connection with Lowery’s death. Both men face first-degree murder charges and were booked into the Mecklenburg County jail. Investigators did not immediately release the firearm caliber, the total number of rounds recovered, or whether any weapons were seized at the time of arrest. Detectives also have not said how the suspects were identified on video or what led to them after the initial encounter. Authorities reiterated that no bullets entered the day care and that no children or staff were reported hurt during the incident.
The day care sits along a busy corridor in southeast Charlotte, where overnight businesses keep traffic moving well past midnight. Catalytic converter thefts have troubled Charlotte and other U.S. cities in recent years because the devices contain valuable metals. Officers taped off the lot before dawn Monday as crime scene personnel photographed casings, mapped trajectories and processed the vehicle Lowery had been driving. The scene remained active into the morning commute, with marked units blocking portions of the entrance as families arrived in the area for work and school drop-offs.
Detectives said standard steps now include analyzing the surveillance video frame by frame, comparing ballistic evidence to entries in state and national databases, and completing interviews with the victim’s family and any witnesses who were in the parking lot. Court appearances for Em and Ngiem had not been scheduled publicly as of Saturday. The department said additional arrest documents and a fuller timeline would be released through routine public-records processes. The Medical Examiner’s Office will finalize cause and manner of death; toxicology is routine and can take weeks.
Neighbors and parents who use the corridor described a rattled morning as flashing lights filled the lot. A small cluster of residents watched from across the street while technicians placed numbered markers near the Malibu’s door and along a lane divider. The day care’s exterior lights cast a stark glow over the tape line as tow operators prepared to remove the car. “It’s tragic anywhere, but especially being that close to a child-care facility,” a passerby said, declining to give a name. Police at the scene emphasized that the building itself was not hit and that the area would reopen once evidence collection was complete.
By Saturday evening, arrests had been announced and the parking lot was clear, but investigators continued to build a case file for prosecutors. The next milestone is the first court appearance for the two men charged and any subsequent release of affidavits detailing how detectives linked the earlier confrontation to the overnight shooting.
Author note: Last updated December 21, 2025.