A Republican candidate for the Mecklenburg County Commission has withdrawn from the race a month after after someone fired gunshots into his Huntersville home while his family was inside.
Aaron Marin said the shooting happened around 7:45 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 16, when an unknown person fired multiple rounds at the home on Greenfarm Road. Marin, his wife and their children were in the house at the time.
No one was injured, but shell casings were found in the road outside. Marin told WSOC-TV that bullets were found in a tree, vehicles, a mailbox and a basketball court.
In a statement, Marin said the incident has “turned our lives upside down” and had an emotional and psychological impact on his children.
The Huntersville Police Department and the FBI have been investigating the shooting as a targeted attack, but no arrests have been made.
Marin said the lack of resolution led to his decision to withdraw from the District 1 county commission race and move out of the district. He was the only Republican candidate in the race.
"Our children are carrying emotional trauma that continues to deepen with each passing day without answers or accountability," he said in a statement. "We have been forced to leave our home, change our routines, and live in constant fear."
He also criticized the town of Huntersville for a "lack of adequate surveillance" of major streets, commercial areas and high-traffic zones. "In many cases, there are no cameras at all — or the cameras that do exist are too low in quality to be effective," he wrote.
Marin's withdrawal clears the way for Democrat Morris McAdoo to win the county commission seat in the November election. The District 1 incumbent, Elaine Powell, is not running for re-election.
