Jordan Kita, an officer with the New Hanover Sheriff’s Office, put on his uniform and joined armed vigilantes to confront a teenager at his home. Everyone in the group, reportedly searching for a missing teenage girl, was white. Their target, Dameon Shepard, is black. A neighbor called 911 and he was not harmed before other officers arrived.
Kita was fired and charged with breaking or entering, forcible trespassing and willful failure to discharge duties, District Attorney Ben David said during a press conference. Another man, Austin Wood, was charged with a terror offense. The family, represented by James W. Lea, plans to sue.
Kita and two other individuals were armed with an assault weapon and shotgun when they arrived at Shepard’s house, [Lea's] 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.
… 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 new pattern, same as the old one: armed white men with police connections setting out to lynch black people, with no arrests made until a fuss ensues.
