Anthony Tyrell Miller

Anthony Tyrell Miller, a man remembered by his family, was a 33-year-old Black man living in Kinston, North Carolina. He was a son to Annette Edwards and a brother to his four siblings, Sekiethia Miller Dove, Letercia Edwards, Lashonda Nowlin, and Latherio Nowlin. His life was part of the fabric of the Kinston community, where he lived on Sleepy Fox Drive. His loved ones would gather to mourn his sudden and violent death at the Greater Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church just days after he was killed.

The evening of Sunday, March 23, 2014, turned tragic in the Simon Bright Apartments complex. Just before 9:30 p.m., the sound of multiple gunshots echoed through the neighborhood. Police from the Kinston Department of Public Safety were dispatched to the scene following reports of a shooting. They found Anthony Miller suffering from a gunshot wound outside the 22 building of the apartment complex. Neighbors later recounted that the shooting started a block away from Miller's home. After being shot, he reportedly ran first toward his own home and then to a neighbor's, desperately seeking help before he collapsed. Emergency medical services rushed him toward Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, but he succumbed to his injuries while en route.

The investigation into Anthony Miller's homicide began immediately. The Kinston Department of Public Safety quickly identified a person of interest and, the day after the shooting, issued a murder warrant for Sadequin Alif Anderson, an 18-year-old whose last known address was on West Highland Avenue in Kinston. Police publicly asked for any information on Anderson's whereabouts, turning the investigation into a manhunt.

The search for the suspect was short-lived. On Tuesday, March 25, 2014, two days after the shooting, Sadequin Anderson turned himself in to authorities in Raleigh. He was taken into custody and transported back to Lenoir County, where he was booked into the county jail in connection with Miller's murder. In a statement to the media, Anderson's mother, Michelle Anderson, insisted on her son's innocence. She claimed he had been sent to live with his father in Raleigh for his own safety after being shot at the previous week and had not returned to Kinston. She stated that the family was gathering cell phone records and witness statements to prove he was in Raleigh at the time of the shooting.

The motive for the shooting was never publicly released by investigators. The case against Sadequin Alif Anderson was set to proceed through the North Carolina court system. Following his arrest and booking, the matter entered the litigation phase.

Anthony Miller was laid to rest in Mills Memorial Garden following a funeral service on March 29, 2014. His death was a profound loss to his mother, siblings, and the wider community, another life cut short by gun violence. As of the last available reports from March 2014, the case against Sadequin Anderson was pending in the Lenoir County judicial system. Anyone with information regarding the shooting was asked to contact the Kinston Public Safety department.