Slain Football Player Expected To Go Far

BY JOHN PATTERSON
SALISBURY POST

CHARLOTTE - Shavarez Thompson promised his mother that one day she'd live comfortably.

"One day," recalled Thompson's mother, Audrey, "he said I would have a house to live in. He always said 'I'm going to get my mother a house.'|"

Thompson, the 19-year-old football player for Livingstone College who was murdered Sunday morning at Wilora Lake Lodge, had the potential to go far, his mother said.

"He was a unique, smart, challenging, self-willed, self-determined person," said Audrey Wallace Thompson. "He had the highest potential ... he could achieve anything he put his hands to."

Audrey Thompson realized her son had great potential, but one incident, she said, reminded her of just how respected her son's ability was.

"I didn't have a ticket for the homecoming game and I really wanted to see him (Shavarez) play," Audrey Thompson said. "Some security guards overheard me talking ... with the girls at the ticket booth. They asked me who my son was and I told them it was Shavarez. Well they almost threw out a red rug for me. One of the guards said 'I'm going to marry you because your son is going to the NFL (National Football League)."

Thompson was more than just a great athlete, his mother said. He worked hard on his grades and had received his report card just days before he was fatally shot.

"He had worked hard to make good grades," she said. "He got all B's and one C. He even dropped one class that he wasn't doing well in ... he didn't want to get a bad grade."

Audrey Thompson, who was divorced from Shavarez's father, Melvin, about 11 years ago, said her son received support from his entire family. Divorce, she said, didn't keep Melvin Thompson from backing his son.

"His father loved him and trained him to be a good man," she said. "His father wanted him to achieve things that he wasn't able to achieve. He (Melvin) went to every game from junior high ... he was always there to support him.

"He (Melvin) always kept in contact with his children. He never let his children go and he was behind them 100 percent. We divorced each other, we didn't divorce our children."

Audrey Thompson said this morning she still has not talked to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police about the incident that claimed her son's life. Police released sketchy details about the shooting Monday, and couldn't be reached this morning for further comment.

Thompson and several other servers at the Wilora Lake Lodge - an upscale retirement community where he'd worked since his senior year at East Mecklenburg High School - had just reported to work around 11 a.m. Sunday when several intruders stepped into the building, according to lodge manager Lisa Haimbaugh. Thompson and three men began fighting, apparently over a girl they all knew, and a shot was fired.

The shot went through Thompson's abdomen and three men who had confronted him left the building. Thompson died at Presbyterian Hospital about four hours later.

Security cameras at the lodge caught the three men on videotape. Charlotte Police are believed to have the tapes, but have not released any information on possible suspects.

Meanwhile, Audrey Thompson said her son - the third of five children - "had finished his work here."

"Shavarez had to be respected in order to give respect. His firmness was his best quality. I could see great things for him, but his work is done here."