WILMINGTON, NC – Two suspects have been charged, one of which is a sheriff’s deputy, in connection with a crime that the victim’s attorney described as a “lynch mob, literally.”

The local DA working with the case stated that the deputy involved has been charged with trespassing and breaking and entering.

On May 3rd, a group of armed individuals were alleged to have come to the home of high school senior named Dameon Shepard in search for a missing teenage girl.

The Laney High School student was home with his mother at the time when New Hanover Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jordan Kita allegedly led the group to his home, inquiring if someone by the name “Josiah” resided there.

Apparently, the mob believed that this “Josiah” individual was privy to the whereabouts of 15-year-old Lekayda Kempisty, who at the time was reported as missing.

Interestingly enough, Kempisty was later discovered on May 4th safe and unharmed.

Yet, during the May 3rd incident, Shepard attempted to tell the group of individuals that neither he, nor anyone inside of the home was “Josiah.”

Shepard even went as far to point out the signage on his front yard that spelled out his own name and congratulating his graduating class year of 2020.

The victim’s mother, Monica Shepard, had instructed the group to leave at once. However, the group had attempted to force their way into the victim’s home regardless of being instructed to leave.

Monica Shepard spoke with a local news crew about the incident:

“Coming to the door like that with a mob of people with guns, what do we expect? What were their intentions?

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.”

District Attorney Benjamin David, who revealed the charges against the deputy and one of the armed individuals present, noted that the deputy was in uniform at the time of the commission of the alleged act.

However, the now-former deputy (since being fired for the alleged crime), was said to be operating outside of the county where he held jurisdictional clout.

Furthermore, DA David described Jordan Kita’s acts as of the “pursuit of personal, not law enforcement purposes.” Austin Wood was the second charged in connection with the incident, and has been charged with being armed to the terror of the public.

One of the elements that has stirred controversy in this developing case is the fact that the alleged mob were all white, and the Shepard family is black.

Jim Lea III is the victim’s attorney in this case, and is likening the act committed as one of a “lynch mob, literally.” The attorney noted the following when summarizing the alleged acts of the suspects:

“They might as well have shown up with a noose in a tree.”

LET has a private home for those who support emergency responders and veterans called LET Unity.  We reinvest the proceeds into sharing their untold stories. Click to check it out.

Murdered officer's grave desecrated before headstone even placed

With the case still developing, DA David couldn’t release too many details with regard to the investigation, pointing to potential ethics violations that could come with releasing information to the press:

“Know that committed professionals are going to see that justice is done in a courtroom, not in the court of public opinion.”

After the group allegedly tried to force their way into the home, and the mother and son repeated time and again that they had the wrong house, the group eventually left the property.

However, it seems to be a case of too-little-too-late.

Part of the outrage with this particular incident was that no arrests were immediately made, despite it being apparent that the then-deputy was functioning beyond his scope as a bailiff for the NHCSO.

This was even after neighbors contacted the local Pender County Sheriff’s Office, where responding deputies conversed with portions of the mob (some still armed) that had returned to the scene to interact with the arriving deputies.

The family’s attorney stated the following about the inaction of responding deputies:

“During this period of time, the deputies made no arrests, took no names of the individual who were at the Shepard residence, and apparently conducted no investigation.”

It’s unclear if there will be further charges or arrests in this case, as there were reportedly far more than just two alleged to have been involved in the mob on May 3rd.

Yet, if the allegations are true, these types of instances do nothing but create a further divide between the community at large and their trust in law enforcement personnel.

—

Want to make sure you never miss a story from Law Enforcement Today? With so much “stuff” happening in the world on social media, it’s easy for things to get lost.

Make sure you click “following” and then click “see first” so you don’t miss a thing! (See image below.) Thanks for being a part of the LET family!

Facebook Follow First

The post Two charged in what’s been described as an armed “lynch mob” looking for a missing girl appeared first on Law Enforcement Today.