An 18-year-old Greenville man is facing a felony charge after investigators say he fired a semi-automatic handgun into a car occupied by three people on Friday. Kezmar Demetrius Powell was arrested the same day and is now being held at the Pitt County Detention Center ahead of a first appearance hearing scheduled for Monday morning.
According to court records cited by WITN, Powell is charged with discharge of a weapon into occupied property, a felony under North Carolina law. An arrest warrant issued Friday, based on information from the Greenville Police Department, accuses Powell of firing a semiautomatic handgun into a 2026 Honda Civic on S.E. Greenville Boulevard while three people were inside the vehicle, according to Pitt County court documents cited by WCTI.
The charge falls under North Carolina General Statute § 14-34.1, titled “Discharging certain barreled weapons or a firearm into occupied property,” according to the North Carolina General Assembly. The statute applies to anyone who “willfully or wantonly discharges or attempts to discharge” a qualifying firearm or barreled weapon.
Bond Decision Pushed to District Court
Rather than being released on standard bond conditions, Powell was not authorized for pretrial release under a release order issued Friday. Per the same account, a judicial official cited the violent nature of the charge and North Carolina's Pretrial Integrity Act in declining to set bond, leaving that decision instead to a district court judge.
The Pretrial Integrity Act, whose provisions took effect October 1, 2023, most notably limits magistrates' authority over certain cases, according to the UNC School of Government. That shift means judges, rather than magistrates, now determine bond in cases that meet the law's criteria.
Court Date Set for Monday
Powell is scheduled for a first appearance hearing Monday at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom DC0A at the Pitt County Courthouse, where Judge Daniel Hines Entzminger is set to preside. Court records list the Pitt County Detention Center as the facility currently holding him.
As with anyone facing charges, Powell is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. The case remains in its early stages, and no additional details about the circumstances of the alleged shooting have been made public.
