On the evening of February 25, 2023, at about 8:40 p.m., officers from the Ahoskie Police Department responded to a reported shooting in the parking lot of Los Amigos Mexican Restaurant in the Newmarket Shopping Center, Ahoskie, North Carolina. Twenty-one-year-old Ky’un Taylor of Kelford was found slumped over in the driver’s seat with gunshot wounds and was taken to ECU Health Roanoke-Chowan Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Investigators from the Ahoskie Police Department and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation announced arrests in early March. On March 3 a 16-year-old male juvenile from Colerain was charged with first-degree murder and taken into secured custody. On March 8, 18-year-old Martavious Nykeem Fennell-Laskey of Rich Square was also arrested and charged with first-degree murder; he was held without bond at the Hertford County Detention Center pending initial court proceedings. Authorities said community tips aided the probe.

Taylor, born March 14, 2001, was remembered at funeral services on March 5 at Beautiful Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Lewiston-Woodville and is survived by his parents, his son Karysn Taylor, his girlfriend MaKayla Spruill, and other relatives and friends. Does anyone who knew Ky’un or who was in the Newmarket Shopping Center that night have information that could help investigators?