Former Fort Bragg soldier pleads to the killing of another soldier in Fayetteville in 2021
A former Fort Bragg soldier was emotional Wednesday in a Cumberland County courtroom as she apologized for shooting and killing another female soldier she found sitting outside her ex-boyfriend's home in 2021.
“I truly am sorry from the bottom of my heart — so sorry,” a tearful Tiara Vinson, 28, said as she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for fatally shooting Spc. Kelia Olivia Horton, 22. “If I could go back and do it over again, I would have handled things differently.”
According to Assistant District Attorney Kara Hodges at Wednesday's plea hearing, Vinson, who was pregnant with her ex-boyfriend's child, went to his house on Ferndell Drive on May 7, 2021, to discuss an abortion with him. The prosecutor said that when Vinson arrived, she shot Horton after finding her sitting in the driver's seat of a car in the driveway. Horton was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Some of the residents in the west Fayetteville neighborhood of single-family homes witnessed the slaying. One woman, who was washing her windows at the time, told 911 that Horton had just pulled into the driveway when Vinson drove up, got out and shot her.
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According to the autopsy report, the mother of two was hit five times: once in the neck, once in the left arm, twice in the torso and once in the chest. The autopsy record stated that Horton was in a "new relationship" with Vinson's ex-boyfriend.
Vinson's attorney, Bernard Conlin, said at the hearing that Vinson had once lived at the home but moved out when they broke up.
He said the ex-boyfriend, who was also a soldier, wanted Vinson to get an abortion but when she went to the clinic for the procedure, she was so upset the doctor was unable to proceed.
On the day of the killing, Conlin said, Vinson had gone to the Ferndell Drive home to tell the ex-boyfriend, "If that's what will keep our relationship together, I will get the abortion."
Conlin said Vinson gave birth to the child while in custody in the killing.
Related: 'I don't know what this girl was thinking': Woman witnessed Fayetteville soldier slaying
Following Vinson's emotional statement at the plea hearing, Horton's cousin, friend and coworker, Lohnai Lenhardt, gave a victim-impact statement, speaking directly to Vinson who sat feet away from her at the defense table.
Lenhardt said her cousin was not a confrontational person and that Vinson's deadly decision left several children motherless.
"Her 4-year-old daughter still asks about her," Lenhardt said fighting tears. "You should have left her alone."
At the time of the killing, Fort Bragg officials said, Horton was a motor pool clerk assigned to the 525th Military Intelligence Brigade. She was originally from Birmingham, Alabama, and joined the Army in June 2017. According to her obituary, she is survived by her two young children, her parents, a "grandmother (and) a host of aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews."
Sgt. Vinson, who hails from Norfolk, Virginia, was a parachute rigger assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group. She'd enlisted in January 2014.
As part of the plea, Superior Court Judge Gale Adams sentenced Vinson to between 17 and 21 years, five months in prison on charges of first-degree murder and discharging a weapon into an occupied vehicle.
Public safety reporter Joseph Pierre can be reached at jpierre@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Former soldier sentenced in 2021 romantic rival killing in Fayetteville
