Man sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of fatally shooting 20-year-old

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Algia Clark Jr. was sentenced to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of fatally shooting 20-year-old A’mari McCaskill.

The trial began on June 23, 2025. Clark Jr. was charged with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

The jury found him guilty on both charges, and the judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

From April to August 2019, the victim and his cousin were engaged in a dispute with Clark Jr. During those months, the dispute escalated over social media.

During one such exchange, Clark Jr. asked whether the dispute would be handled with “fades or shots” (fists or guns).

During the first weeks of August, Clark Jr. saw the victim and his cousin driving along Frazier Avenue and pointed a gun at their vehicle.

In the days leading up to the homicide, Clark Jr. stopped by the victim’s home and asked for the victim, but he was not home.

In the late afternoon of August 20, 2019, the victim and several friends went to a fast-food restaurant in northwest Charlotte. An acquaintance of Clark Jr. saw them arrive and called him.

Surveillance video showed Clark Jr. arrive at the restaurant on foot and step inside the restaurant briefly. Witnesses described that he entered, hailed the victim, and exited. The victim exited, followed Clark Jr. toward the back of the restaurant parking lot, and raised his hands as if to fight.

Clark Jr. then pulled a gun from his waistband and shot the victim in the head before running away. The victim was transported to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Crime scene investigators with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department recovered a discharged 9 mm cartridge casing in the restaurant parking lot. Witnesses interviewed by CMPD detectives identified Clark as the shooter. He was located and arrested four days after the murder.