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The Union County Sheriff’s Office has arrested someone and charged him with killing a Taco Bell employee in Indian Trail.
Now, detectives want to know why 22-year-old Gilecio Ritchie killed 23-year-old Dantreveion Hobbs, Lt. James Maye told reporters at a news conference Wednesday. Ritchie has been charged with first-degree murder.
The shooting happened Monday night at a Taco Bell on U.S. 74, according to the sheriff’s office. Ritchie fled in a vehicle, and detectives found him less than a day later at his home that was also in Indian Trail, a news release said.
The two knew each other, and detectives knew it was not a “random attack,” Maye said. Detectives have found a murder weapon, he said.
“The question that everybody wants to know now is: Why?” he said. “Why did another young man — a 22-year-old young man — come into a restaurant in the middle of the evening and shoot a 23-year-old young man, seemingly unprovoked… That’s what we’re going to dig into now.”
Sheriff Eddie Cathey said the killing scared the public, but that a quick arrest is helping to alleviate fears. He credited his detectives for their work, which carried into the night.
“I think it scares people to say, ‘You know, I was just in that Taco Bell yesterday. I could’ve been there tonight,’” the sheriff said. “It’s a shock to the community. But I think that this will end that shock. This arrest will stop that shock, and we’ll go back to being Union County.”
This was the second homicide in the sheriff’s office’s primary response area this year, Cathey said. There have been arrests in both cases, he said.
Indian Trail is about a 15-mile drive southeast from uptown Charlotte.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
This story was originally published October 15, 2025 at 4:01 PM.
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Ryan Oehrli
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