Kayla Kyle was a 31-year-old Black woman, a U.S. Air Force veteran, and a loving mother of two children. Her own mother, Felicia Kyle, called Kayla her best friend, a daughter whose smile “would brighten up the room.” After serving for ten years in the military, Kayla had returned to her hometown of Lumberton, North Carolina, and was working at the Lumberton Children’s Clinic. She was described as a caring person who would do anything for anyone. On the day she died, her family was planning a fish fry for that evening, and they were also preparing for her young daughter’s upcoming birthday party.
The plans for celebration were shattered on the afternoon of Friday, July 24, 2020. Just before 5 p.m., Kayla was leaving the Family Dollar store on East Fifth Street with her two children, then ages 11 and 2. After she got them into her car, a man approached and tried to steal the vehicle. As Kayla attempted to drive away to protect her children, the man opened fire.
She was struck by the gunfire, and her car went out of control and crashed into a pile of bricks. Her son then made a frantic phone call to his grandmother, telling her that a man had just shot his mother.
When police arrived, they found that Kayla and another shopper, 41-year-old Kimberly Hunt, had both been shot and killed. Investigators learned that a man wearing a hoodie had been dropped off in a gray car before he randomly fired into multiple vehicles that were backing out of their parking spaces. Based on a tip, authorities in Florence, South Carolina, arrested a suspect four days later on July 28. The man was identified as 25-year-old Xavier Joseph Kenneth Green.
Green waived extradition and was transported back to Robeson County, North Carolina, where he was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and held without bond. On April 30, 2024, the case came to a close when Xavier Green pleaded guilty to two counts of murder. During an emotional court hearing, Kayla’s father, Kevin Cooper, lunged at Green after hearing that his daughter had been shot four times. Green’s attorney said his client had a troubled life and had spent considerable time in prison. The judge sentenced Green to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Speaking after the hearing, Felicia Kyle said she was happy with the outcome and that justice had been served.
