KINSTON, N.C. (WNCT) — The Kinston Police Department has arrested and charged a suspect with attempted murder in the shooting of a first responder who was caught in the crossfire on Sunday.
Police said Brennan Dijuon Hill, 23, of Kinston was arrested and was charged with the following:
• 5 counts – Attempted First Degree Murder
• Assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury
• 3 counts – assault with a deadly weapon on an Emergency Person
Hill went before a magistrate and was placed in the Lenoir County Jail under no bond. Other suspects are likely to be arrested, Kinston Police Chief Keith Goyette said.
A press conference was held Monday afternoon with more details. Goyette and Lenoir County Emergency Services Director Murry Stroud answered questions and provided updates.
On Sunday, a Lenoir County Emergency Services paramedic was responding to a call at Jack Rountree Apartments. Kinston police say while attempting to get a patient into an ambulance, a vehicle slammed into the front of the EMS truck. A person got out and started firing a gun.
According to the investigation, the suspect’s vehicle, a gray Toyota Sedan, was traveling eastbound on Marilyn Drive, As they were approaching the ambulance, a white vehicle was traveling in the westbound lane. As the suspect vehicle and white vehicle crossed paths, the passenger of the gray sedan began shooting at the white vehicle, causing the white vehicle to crash into the EMS unit.
The paramedic was caught in the crossfire and struck in the upper torso and arm area, Kinston police say. She was transported to ECU Health in Greenville where they were treated and released Monday afternoon. The identity of the paramedic was being withheld, police said.
Officials said the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office and the NC State Highway Patrol also assisted on the scene in addition to another Lenoir County EMS unit.
The occupants of the white vehicle fled the scene and the driver of the white vehicle eventually returned to the scene. The gray vehicle, the suspect’s vehicle, fled the scene. Within an hour, KPD had video of the vehicle and the incident.
Goyette said officers were able to quickly identify the possible owner of the vehicle and what home the vehicle was at. As they went to the home, officers noticed another vehicle pulling out of the driveway. A vehicle stop took place and two people were in that vehicle along with guns.
Those two people were detained and brought in for questioning while investigators got a search warrant for the home. They located two additional guns inside.
Kinston Police Department’s Violent Criminal Action Team was able to obtain warrants for the suspect in the passenger side of the gray sedan Monday morning. The suspected shooter in the passenger side of the gray sedan had his parents bring him down to the police station, where he was charged.
Goyette said the suspect was charged with five counts of attempted murder because the person was shooting at the white vehicle and in the crossfire was the EMS employee and other EMS employees at the scene.
According to Stroud, officials Sunday night contacted the NC Office of EMS for an ambulance strike team, which includes several ambulances from out of the county that helped cover Lenoir County’s EMS calls until 7 am Monday. Those outside EMS agencies were Bridgeton EMS, Carolina East, Greene County EMS, Wayne County EMS and Jones County EMS
That allowed Lenoir EMS crews to de-brief, rest, recover and process what happened. A de-brief crew from the Western Carteret Fire Department to help do a critical defusing, to speak with crews and to give them an opportunity to vent and process the scene.
This case is still under investigation. If anyone has information about this incident, please call the Kinston Police Department’s Tips Line at 252-939-4020 or Lenoir County Crime Stoppers at 252-523-4444.
