Neighbor Brian Stack points at crime scene

Sept. 4. By Dave Yochum. Cornelius Police have identified Marc Loren Mays, 45, as the victim of a homicide late Monday night in a parking lot at the Admiral’s Quarters condominium complex on West Catawba at the foot of Westmoreland.

He was pronounced dead at the scene with multiple gunshot wounds.

Police say Mays was shot during the course of a robbery. The suspects fled the scene in a dark green or blue green mid-size SUV.

Witnesses describe the vehicle as having a loud exhaust possibly due to a mechanical issue with the vehicle. The driver is described as an African-American in his mid-20s, and bald. The passenger is described as a black male, also in his mid-20’s, wearing a dark colored hoodie and having scruffy facial hair.

Neighbors said Mays’ girlfriend was with him at the time and witnessed the shooting.

The Cornelius Police Department is requesting anyone with information concerning this incident, the identity of the suspects or the identity of the suspect vehicle to please contact the Cornelius Police Department at 704-892-7773 or the North Meck Crime Stoppers at 704-896-7867.

The incident occurred in the overflow parking at 18817 Nautical Drive, the main drive through the multi-building lakefront complex.

Brian Stack, who lives on the second floor of the first building on the right of Nautical in the condo complex, was the first neighbor on the scene. Stack said he heard shots while still awake around 11:30 pm on Labor Day.

The victim lived on the top floor, above Stack and his wife Ronnie. He and his girlfriend were apparently returning from shopping, Stack said.

“Something made me go to the window to look and there she is, running…she ran up the stairs and pounded on my door,” Stack said.

Stack said she told him the perpetrator tried to snatch her purse. Her knees were bloody, he said, apparently from struggling to hold on to her purse.

Stack said he saw groceries strewn near the man’s body.

Stack described Mays as a “decent guy…who worked smaller jobs involving computers.” They talked occasionally and Mays was always a “good neighbor.”

Stack called police and they ran outside to the body, where Mays was sprawled on the pavement in a pool of blood. Stack said it was clear he was already dead. “It looked like he took all the shots,” Stack said.

Admiral’s Quarters is normally quiet and peaceful, Stack said. Around 2012 a woman was killed during a domestic dispute.