Shooting victim’s father says she was not in a gang

Police are still looking for answers in an early morning shooting that killed a 22-year-old mother of two Sunday.

Kendra Blount was killed in what police are calling a dispute between rival gangs. Five people are in the Pitt County Detention Center. Thoron Whitehead, Travoris Atkinson, Demoreal Taft, Curtis Williams and Richard Taft were arrested in Winterville. Four of the five suspects face murder charges. Richard Taft was arrested for outstanding warrants for possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana.

While police say this may have been a fight between two gangs, the victim’s father says his daughter was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Neno Hayes said, “I know my daughter, she wasn’t in a gang.“

Hayes says his daughter, Kendra Blount, was an innocent victim. “Kendra is just another 22-year-old that got caught up and one thing led to another.“

It all started after a fight inside The Phoenix, a Greenville night club, spilled out onto the streets.

It would eventually end at the intersection of Howell and Evans Streets around 3 am with gunfire.

Adrian Andrews lives at the corner of the intersection where the shooting happened. She said, “It didn’t use to be like this out here and I don’t even feel safe going places any more.“

She says the violence is only getting worse. “Everywhere you go it seems like there’s something going on. It’s just not safe any more.“

Andrews says she knew Blount and didn’t believe she was in a gang. What her relationship with those involved was is still unclear but Hayes says he knew some of the men arrested.

He described them as, “Good guys. They’ve done something wrong but never thought they would do something like this.“

After the shooting, Blount’s friends tried to rush her to the hospital where she later died.