A former New Hanover County sherriff’s deputy and several others who tried to force their way into the North Carolina home of a Black family while looking for a missing girl last May are now demanding an apology from the people whom they terrorized reported Black Enterprise.
ABC News reported last year that Monica and Dameon Shepard were at home on May 3 when they were startled by loud banging on their front door. Dameon opened the door and saw then-Deputy Jordan Kita, who was off-duty and several other men, some armed, all white, claiming they were looking for a suspect in their area related to the case of a missing girl.
According to the report, Kita claimed an appearance of “familial relation” was his motivation for pursuing the Shepards, who are Black. The missing child who was later found the next day, by a different group, was Kita’s 15-year old biracial “sister”– a cousin he considers a sibling.
When both Jordan and his mother told Kita he was at the wrong residence and Dameon was not their suspect, Kita and the mob tried to force their way into the home. The former law enforcement agent inserted his foot in the door and began trying to push his way in so the mom could not close it.
In May last year, New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David charged Kita with a number of misdemeanors, including forcible trespass and willful failure to discharge duties. Another man in the crowd that went to the Shepard home that night, Austin Wood, was also charged with “going armed to the terror of the public,” David said.
Both men were acquitted.
Kita was eventually fired for his part in the incident. Although he was off-duty at the time, he had been in uniform and carrying his service weapon during the search. He was also found to be out of his jurisdiction as an officer.
Now, after it has been revealed that the former New Hanover County sheriff and the armed mob had a faulty tip that led them to the Shepard residence, it appears the mob wants justice – but of a different kind. They want the Shepards to apologize to them for calling out their racist behavior. The audacious crybabies weren’t too happy with how they were portrayed in the media.
And now, as they cry white tears, they argue that Monica Shepard has the onus of appeasing them for their bigoted antics.
Shepard isn’t trying to hear that nonsense.
She told CNN, “I’ve said this before: It’s about accountability. You can’t just form a mob and go around being vigilante citizens,” she said. “There’s laws against that. I’m not interested in sitting down. It’s all about accountability at the end of the day.”
The Shepards have filed a suit against Kita for what the complaint said is “emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, [and] interference with civil rights.”
Jennifer Nwachukwu, who serves as counsel for the Lawyers’ Committee’s James Byrd Jr. Center to Stop Hate is handling the family’s case. Her associate Arusha Gordon, called the request for an apology an attempt to deflect.
“I think this is all a distraction from the real issues at hand, which is the fact that last May a large group of White people showed up armed late at night, invaded their home and sense of privacy and put our clients in fear of their lives,” Gordon said.
Nwachukwu said the family’s case against Kita will press forward.
