A Kinston man has been sentenced to 25 to 31 years in state prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Dishon Blount, closing out one chapter of a case that began with gunfire on a residential block.
Jataves Ellison entered the guilty plea Wednesday and received a sentence of 300 to 372 months in state prison, according to a statement from the Kinston Police Department posted on Facebook. The department said it thanked the Lenoir County District Attorney's Office for prosecuting the case. Ellison's co-defendant, 25-year-old Drejon Hall, is still awaiting trial on murder charges in the same case, and remains presumed innocent unless and until proven otherwise in court.
How the Case Unfolded
Kinston police officers responded to a report of a shooting in the 500 block of East Bright Street on September 6, 2025, per the department's Facebook statement. Blount died from an apparent gunshot wound at the scene. Detectives later obtained warrants for then-20-year-old Jataves Ellison in connection with the murder, and he was taken into custody without incident at a residence on Railfence Drive on September 18, 2025.
Hall was arrested separately in late September 2025 after Kinston detectives obtained murder warrants against him, with the Greenville Police Department's Violent Crime Action Team assisting in his arrest in Greenville, as Kinston Police detailed in a case update.
A Second Shooting on the Same Block
Just over a week before Blount's killing, the same stretch of East Bright Street saw another fatal shooting. On August 28, 2025, 52-year-old Daryl Dudley was shot and killed on the same block, and 22-year-old Prince Ellison — Jataves Ellison's brother — was arrested September 16, 2025, in connection with that killing, according to Neuse News. Kinston Police stated that investigators did not believe the two homicides were connected, despite the striking coincidence of two brothers facing murder charges for separate killings on the exact same block within nine days of each other.
The outlet reported that the Kinston Police SWAT Team, the Lenoir County Special Response Team, and the Greene County Sheriff's Office assisted in apprehending Prince Ellison in Walstonburg.
A Familiar Address for Ellison
Railfence Drive, where Jataves Ellison was taken into custody in the Blount case, was not unfamiliar territory for him. The same outlet previously reported that in December 2023, a then-19-year-old Ellison was arrested during a raid at a residence on that street, where law enforcement seized an AR-15 rifle, marijuana, and psilocybin mushrooms. That raid resulted in charges including possession of a firearm by a felon and a parole revocation.
Remembering Dishon Blount
Blount, born in Lenoir County in August 1999, was 26 years old when he was killed. His death marked Kinston's third recorded homicide of 2025, as reported by WCTI News 12.
City Leaders Respond, Neighbors Speak Up
Residents of East Bright Street addressed the Kinston City Council during public comment in February 2026, raising concerns about neighborhood conditions and infrastructure needs, including road repairs on nearby blocks, according to city meeting records.
Anyone with information related to the case is asked to call the Kinston Police Department's tip line at 252-939-4020. Tipsters can also reach Lenoir County Crime Stoppers at 252-523-4444, where calls are confidential and anonymous, and callers may be eligible for a cash reward for information leading to an arrest.
