North Carolina Deputy Charged For Allegedly Leading Armed Mob To Black Teen's Home

A North Carolina Deputy is facing charges after authorities said he led a group of armed people to a wrong home during a search for a missing girl.

According to reports, New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David said Friday that Jordan Kita, who worked for New Hanover Sheriff's Office, led a group of armed people to the home of Dameon Shepard, a senior at Laney High School in Wilmington, on May 3. James W. Lea, Shepard's lawyer, said the family is preparing a civil suit.

The teenager was playing video games inside his home when he answered a knock at the door and was met by Kita, who was side-by-side with men holding a shotgun and a semi-automatic rifle. Behind Kita and the armed men were about 15 white people who tried to force their way into Shepard's home, NBC News reported.

"What if he was the person they were looking for or what if I was not home? What would've happened?" Monica Shepard, Dameon's mother, told NBC affiliate WECT of Wilmington. The Shepards are one of the only two African-American families in the predominantly white neighborhood, according to the Port City Daily.

The group was looking for Lekayda Kempisty, a 15-year-old girl who had been reported missing earlier that day. The group led by Kita was searching for an individual named Josiah, a student from a different school who was believed to have ties with the missing girl and used to live next door to the Shepards. The girl was later found safe.

Lea claimed Kita insisted and demanded to be let in even after Dameon repeatedly identified himself and tried to shut the door. According to Lea's letter to David, the group began to understand they were in the wrong residence at some point as there was a sign in Shepard's front yard congratulating Dameon on his graduation in huge fonts and capital letters.

David told reporters that Kita forcefully went 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." Kita has since been relieved from his duties.

He is now facing charges for trespassing and breaking and entering. A man from the deputy's group identified as Austin Wood is also facing criminal charges for "going armed to the terror of the public."