A west Charlotte neighbor feud ended in a decades-long prison sentence after a 2024 shooting on Scottview Drive left one man dead and another headed to state prison. Prosecutors say 50-year-old Dean Tate pleaded guilty in May 2026 to second-degree murder in the killing of his neighbor, 53-year-old Robert Long, and received a sentence reported as 360 to 444 months behind bars.
According to Charlotte Alerts News, Tate entered the second-degree murder plea in May 2026 and was hit with the 360 to 444 month prison term. The outlet identified the victim as Robert Long, 53, and said the shooting happened on Scottview Drive in west Charlotte.
How the investigation began
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said officers were called around 6:30 p.m. on March 21, 2024, to the 8000 block of Scottview Drive, where they found a man with multiple gunshot wounds who later died from his injuries. That victim was identified as Robert Long, 53, according to the department.
In that same release, detectives named Dean Antonio Tate as the suspect and listed initial charges of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle. What started as a neighborhood homicide call quickly turned into a full-scale investigation involving multiple crime scenes and a suspect who would not be in custody for long.
Arrest after a chase
Local television coverage detailed what happened next. In the pre-dawn hours the following morning, officers spotted the suspect vehicle and a chase followed. It ended in dramatic fashion when the driver pulled into the Law Enforcement Center parking lot in Uptown and surrendered to police. Radio traffic and video from the scene showed officers taking the driver into custody and later recovering a firearm believed to be tied to the shooting, as reported by WCCB.
Legal context
Authorities originally booked Tate on first-degree murder and the related felony counts. Local reporting indicates that case ultimately resolved with his plea to second-degree murder, which under North Carolina law is a non-capital homicide offense.
The state punishes second-degree murder under its structured-sentencing grid, with minimum and maximum prison terms set by G.S. 15A-1340.17. The grid takes into account a defendant’s prior record level along with any aggravating or mitigating factors. For serious felonies such as second-degree murder, that chart can easily produce multi-decade ranges behind bars.
While CMPD and multiple local TV outlets confirm the March 2024 killing and Tate’s arrest, a separate prosecutor’s news release or online court docket confirming the May 2026 plea and the formal judgment was not immediately available at the time of publication. The only reporting we located on the plea and the 360 to 444 month sentence is the Charlotte Alerts News item noted above. We will continue to watch official dockets and update if and when court records or a statement from the District Attorney’s office is posted.
The CMPD news release asked anyone with information about the March 2024 shooting to call 704-432-8477, according to the department. For official sentencing records, residents are directed to the Mecklenburg County Clerk of Superior Court or the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s office.
