Tiara Vinson, a soldier stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, has been charged with first-degree murder after allegedly killing fellow soldier, Kelia Horton. Police said the shooting happened outside of a home in Fayetteville on May 7.

"The suspect drove up to the residence where the victim was in her car in the driveway and the suspect began shooting," Fayetteville Police Department Sgt. Jeremy Glass told People. "There were a couple of witnesses that saw it and called it in."

According to WRAL, Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West said Horton was in a relationship with a man who was previously dating Vinson. West said Friday's altercation started when Vinson and Horton arrived at the man's house at the same time.

"Our victim was in an existing romantic relationship with the gentleman that lived in the home," West said. "A verbal altercation took place between the two of them, and our allegation is that the defendant, at that point, began firing into the car."

One female Fort Bragg soldier charged in another’s killing https://t.co/MkKbC4vuQp
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Kelia Horton, 22 (5-7-2021) pic.twitter.com/iYmmlxtxgI

— Black Femicide – America (@blackfemicideUS) May 9, 2021

Vinson, 26, is now being held in Cumberland County Jail without bond. Horton, a 22-year-old mother of two, was still alive when police arrived. But she later died at the hospital, Refinery29 reported.

"My cousin was the sweetest. She would give you the shirt off of her back. There was nothing bad you can say about Kelia," Jadiah Farris, Horton's cousin, said.

Horton's family has been demanding answers from authorities.

“It’s real strange,” said Bill Lavigne Sr., father of a slain soldier. “That something like this can go on at Fort Bragg, and nobody seems to know nothing. They’re covering something up. That’s the way I feel about it.”

The two soldiers, both on active duty, worked in different areas on the base. While Horton served as a motorpool clerk assigned to the 525th Military Intelligence Brigade, Vinson was a parachute rigger assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group.

"They had a mutual male friend in common," Glass said. "It wasn't an unknown person just going out and shooting another unknown person."

Horton's death is the latest in a series of homicide cases involving Fort Bragg soldiers. According to Rolling Stone, 44 soldiers died at the base in 2020, with many of the cases being ruled as a homicide. In January 2020, a 19-year-old's body was found in his bunk in an advanced state of decomposition. Another soldier was found “unresponsive” in his barracks a short time later. A 21-year-old enlisted man from California was also beheaded while on a camping trip with six of his fellow paratroopers.

Tiara Nicole Vinson

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