CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A man charged for the 2019 murder of a 32-year-old man outside of a gas station has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The trial for 61-year-old Richard Grier started on Feb. 5 and ended on Wednesday, Feb. 19, with the verdict. The jury found him guilty as charged for the first-degree murder of 32-year-old Andrew Allen.
Around 2 a.m. on May 18, 2019, Grier was allegedly yelling homophobic slurs at people where he stood in the parking lot of the Shell gas station at the intersection of South Blvd. and East Blvd.
Officials say Allen walked by as Grier was still yelling insults which started a verbal altercation. Grier took out a pocketknife before going back to his truck to get a “bayonet-style knife with a 6.5-inch blade” which he used to stab Allen 11 times as he was walking away.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officers not far from the scene saw Grier in his truck driving at a high rate of speed. Authorities say Grier did not stop for officers and ran several red lights before going onto I-77 north. Grier allegedly was driving faster than 100 mph for 4.5 miles before stopping in the travel lane of the LaSalle/Atando exit.
“I know I’m going to jail,” Grier reportedly told officers before he was arrested. DNA tests confirmed that Allen’s blood was found on Grier’s leg, the truck’s gas pedal and steering wheel, and the bayonet-style knife.
