Kenneth Andrew Sprouse called police after being robbed in his Greenville apartment by three men armed with a bat, knife and gun at about 3 a.m. April 17.
About three hours later, the Hickory native was arrested for second-degree murder and held on a $200,000 bond.
Sprouse, 20, told his grandmother, Bethlehem resident Diane Mingus, that he shot one of the intruders in the back with his roommate's shotgun as they were leaving.
Pitt County District Attorney Clark Everett said Sprouse ran down two flights of stairs from his second floor apartment to the ground floor before firing.
The shot hit the 18-year-old high school senior in the back, neck and head.
"He was pretty bad off," Everett said.
He died at Pitt Memorial Hospital after being dropped off at the emergency room door by the teens who had accompanied him during the robbery, Everett said.
During the robbery, two young men stayed outside. The four surviving members of the group that committed the robbery have been indicted on charges of first-degree burglary, second-degree kidnapping, two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon and two conspiracy charges, and held on $150,000 bond.
The intruders were 16, 17 and 18 years old, and stole cash, a laptop and marijuana during the robbery. Everett declined to say if the robbery happened during a drug deal.
During the robbery, the intruders held the gun to Sprouse's girlfriend's face, Mingus said.
"I don't care what he was doing — they had no right to break in," Mingus said. "I know my grandson had pot. I don't approve of it. I don't like it."
His court-appointed lawyer advised Sprouse to accept a plea that would have sent him to prison for six years. His grandmother found a new lawyer — Earnest Conner Jr.
He told her his usual fee for a case like this runs about $50,000, but he'd take this one on for $20,000. Mingus has begun a legal fund and is working to raise the money by Monday.
"We hired him not knowing where we'd get the money," Mingus said.
The fund had been set up at First Citizens Bank. "It's called the Kenneth Andrew Sprouse legal fund," Mingus said.
So far, about $340 has been donated to the fund. Mingus said Sprouse grew up in Catawba County and wrestled for Fred T. Foard High School. She's hoping his friends and family from the area will donate to his legal defense fund.
Sprouse's charge has been reduced to voluntary manslaughter and his bond was lowered to $100,000, but his grandmother still can't afford to get him out of the Pitt County jail.
"We had to decide between getting a good lawyer and putting up his bond," said Sprouse's godmother, Teresa Edwards.
He went to Greenville to attend Pitt Community College with his friend.
Mingus said her grandson was considering veterinary medicine upon graduation.
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