A Fayetteville police officer has been cleared of wrongdoing in a shooting for the second time in eight months. Officer Michael Yount shot Kenmara Alvona Davis, 26, near Post Avenue and Hawkins Road while responding to reports of shots fired on Nov. 27. Davis, who was shot in the back, was pronounced dead at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center.
The State Bureau of Investigation reviewed the incident and determined that Yount acted in self-defense and found himself in a situation that "required him to return fire in order to save his own life."
Cumberland County District Attorney Ed Grannis sent a letter to Fayetteville police Chief Tom Bergamine to say that the State Bureau of Investigation’s criminal investigation into the shooting has been closed.
"Based on a thorough review of all evidence in this matter”, District Attorney Ed Grannis decided that there was no factual basis to bring criminal charges, as there was nothing criminal about what Officer Yount did in this case according to his fellow officers.
Members of Fayetteville’s black community expressed anger that Davis had been shot in the back. An autopsy report showed he had been shot once in the lower back, which backed witnesses’ statements that Davis was running from Yount when he was shot. The autopsy also showed that Davis was "highly intoxicated" at the time of the shooting.
Three weeks before this shooting, Yount was cleared of any wrongdoing in a June 2008 shooting of three men who attacked him and his police dog.
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