14-year-old shooting victim wasn't suicidal, aunt says

The aunt of the 14-year-old who was died of a gunshot wound Wednesday said she is confident her nephew would never have hurt himself.

Kahlid Byrd, a freshman at Kinston High School, died Wednesday afternoon from a single gunshot that a medical examiner ruled was self-inflicted, according to the Kinston Department of Public Safety Law Enforcement Division. The incident occurred at a neighbor’s house.

“Kahlid would never have committed suicide,” Sharhonda Tull said. “When he turned 15, he planned on getting a job so he could have some money in his pocket and have some nice clothes; he was looking forward to making money without having to sell drugs like many do around here.”

Kinston police have not yet determined if the shooting was accidental or a suicide; that will be determined when the autopsy report returns.

“We don’t determine cause of death in a case like this,” KDPS Director Greg Smith said of the process. “We gather the evidence, turn it over to the medical examiner and (he) determines it.”

Tull said her nephew was a friendly, outgoing, sometimes “goofy” kid who loved life and his many friends. She said her nephew’s home didn’t have an Internet connection, so he visited a neighbor’s house Wednesday to check his MySpace account.

“Kahlid told his cousin that he was going across the street to use the neighbor’s computer, because he loved MySpace,” Tull said. “He told his cousin he would be right back.”

Tull said the coroner told the family Thursday the shot was fired from a .32-caliber revolver that was held 1 to 3 inches from Kahlid’s body.

Tull said Byrd had two friends die in apparent suicides, but that he wasn’t thinking of killing himself.

“Kahlid was not obsessed with suicide; he kept two (funeral programs) of friends that had committed suicide because he attended the funerals,” Tull said. “I’m not sure if they committed suicide, but that’s how it was reported.”

The KDPS reported Wednesday that no one was in the room when Byrd was shot, but that someone was in the house at the time.

“The person that was in the house is going around saying Kahlid was depressed,” Tull said. “But that is not true.”