North Carolina
Deputy accused of leading armed mob of vigilantes to black teen’s home, NC lawyer says
Dameon Shepard, a high school senior in North Carolina, was at home playing video games when a large group of people with guns — including a sheriff’s deputy — reportedly knocked on his door.
Shepard is black. The group was entirely white.
They were looking for a teenage girl who’d gone missing and mistakenly believed Shepard was a different person who knew her, according to James W. Lea, who is preparing to file a civil lawsuit on the family’s behalf, Port City Daily reported.
“We obviously cannot have armed groups of citizens patrolling the streets of Pender County or New Hanover County terrorizing innocent families,” Lea said in a letter to county officials published by the Port City Daily.
Now two people are facing criminal charges.
Jordan Kita, a detention officer with the New Hanover Sheriff’s Office, is charged with misdemeanor breaking or entering, forcible trespassing and willful failure to discharge duties, District Attorney Ben David said during a press conference Friday that was live streamed on Facebook by TV station WECT.
Kita has since been fired, according to a statement David read from the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office.
The former deputy is accused of going to Shepard’s home “while armed and in uniform in a county where he was not dully sworn in and in furtherance of personal — not law enforcement — purposes,” David said.
A second man, Austin Wood, faces charges, David said, for “going armed to the terror of the public,” which bars North Carolina citizens from arming themselves “for the purpose of terrifying others.”
David and Pender County Sheriff Alan Cutler declined to comment on the particular facts of the case but said the investigation is ongoing.
“Please remain calm and know that committed professionals will see that justice is done in a courtroom,” David said during the news conference.
An e-mail from the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office to McClatchy News confirmed “an internal affairs investigation” was completed, and Pender County Sheriff’s Office continues to conduct the criminal investigation.
What allegedly happened
Port City Daily reported the incident occurred May 3 around 10 p.m., citing the letter Lea penned to David, Cutler and New Hanover County Sheriff Ed McMahon on Thursday.
Kita and two other individuals were armed with an assault weapon and shotgun when they arrived at Shepard’s house, the letter states. The group was reportedly looking for Lekayda Kempisty, a 15-year-old girl who was reported missing earlier that day, WECT reported. She was later found safe.
The district attorney said Friday Kita is believed to be a “familial relation” and “not a total stranger” to Kempisty.
During the altercation, Lea said Kita put his foot in the door to stop Shepard from closing it and demanded he be let in.
“Dameon became very frightened and hysterical, and kept repeating that his name was Dameon and that he attended Laney High School,” the letter published by Port City Daily states. “Out in front of the yard was a sign congratulating him on his graduation from Laney High School with his name on the sign.”
The individual the group was looking for was named Josiah, according to the letter, and he used to live next door. Port City Daily reported the neighborhood is “predominantly white” and “the Shepards are one of only two black families” who live there.
In the letter, Lea said Dameon Shepard’s mother, Monica Shepard, was awoken by the confrontation and told the group they had the wrong person and should leave.
“Coming to the door like that with a mob of people with guns, what do we expect? What were their intentions?” Monica Shepard told WECT. “What if he was the person they were looking for or what if I was not home? What would’ve happened? I don’t want to have that conversation. I don’t want him to be a statistic. It’s scary.”
Sheriff’s office arrives
Someone in the neighborhood reportedly called law enforcement, prompting two deputies with the Pender County Sheriff’s Office to arrive on scene, followed shortly thereafter by their captain.
“During this period of time, the deputies made no arrests, took no names of the individuals who were at the Shepard residence, and apparently conducted no investigation,” Lea’s letter states.
Cutler and David said Friday during the news conference recorded by WECT the situation was “diffused”and there was “no further threat” at the time.
“Suffice it to say that they were following protocol and procedure to protect the integrity of the process and to make sure that when cases this serious occur, they get our full attention,” David said. “Any narrative to the contrary is simply a false narrative.”
He said evidence as to why they waited several days before making an arrest would come out in court.
Comments