Police want public’s help solving 2021 Haywood Road shooting

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) —

A fatal shooting in West Asheville three years ago is back in the news as investigators are again asking anyone with information about the case to contact them.

Keith Larnel Blair, 31, was fatally shot in the parking lot behind the Bledsoe Building on Haywood Road about 1 a.m. May 29, 2021. Another individual was also shot but recovered from the injuries.

“It deeply affected us,” an employee of a business in the building said while sweeping the sidewalk Thursday. “It still worries us to this day.”

Officers recovered more than 30 shell casings and found seven vehicles with bullet holes, an Asheville Police Department news release said.

Detectives believe multiple people were involved in the shooting, Asheville Police Department spokesperson Rick Rice said.

On the night of the shooting, Jhakar Horace Davis had a handgun while inside Westville Pub, one of the building’s tenants, police said in Thursday’s news release. He was arrested on charges linked to the unlawful possession of a firearm. But he was not charged with anything related to the shooting death of Blair.

Davis was gunned down on July 12, 2021, near the intersection of Biltmore Avenue and Short Coxe Avenue, police said.

When asked if there was a connection between the shootings of Blair and Davis, Rice said, “Detectives have definitely considered it and explored the links between the two.”

Although APD detectives have continued to work the case, crucial questions remain unanswered.

“It’s critically important witnesses come forward,” Capt. Joe Silberman, who oversees Asheville Police Department’s criminal investigations, said in the news release. “Some of the evidence we have comes from forensics we recovered from the scene. That includes nearly 30 shell casings that came from three different firearms. We also recovered two guns.”

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact APD at 828-252-1110, send an anonymous tip using the TIP2APD smartphone application (search “Asheville PD” in your app store) or text TIP2APD to 847411.