About a dozen people stood on the corner of Beatties Ford Road and LaSalle Street on Wednesday afternoon, holding signs and leading chants of "Justice for Shanquella." Dozens more joined them by honking their horns and cheering out their car windows as they drove by.
The demonstration took place a week after the U.S. Justice Department announced it would not seek federal charges in the death of Charlotte native Shanquella Robinson.
The 25-year-old West Charlotte High School graduate died on Oct 29, 2022, while vacationing near Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with six other people.
The Justice Department said it reviewed an autopsy performed in Mecklenburg County, as well as other investigative materials, before making its decision not to pursue any U.S. charges.
The Mecklenburg autopsy found no evidence of a spinal cord injury, and categorized Robinson's cause of death as undetermined — contradicting an earlier autopsy performed in Mexico that listed spinal cord injuries as the cause of death.
At Wednesday's demonstration, local activist Mario Black said he and others were disappointed with the announcement from the Justice Department, but remain hopeful that an arrest would still be made.
Mexican authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a woman believed to have been traveling with Robinson in Mexico, and local activists have cited as potential evidence a video that circulated online showing Robinson being attacked and beaten by a woman in a Mexican villa shortly before she died.
Black said he hoped the U.S. would take the woman named in the arrest warrant into custody and extradite her to face charges in Mexico. It's unclear if Mexican authorities have formally requested any extraditions.
Black said he and other activists, as well as attorneys for the Robinson family, plan to protest in Washington, D.C., on May 19 to keep pressuring U.S. officials to make an arrest in the case.
