Man receives life for killing Nash County deputy

A 21-year-old man will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was sentenced in federal court Monday for the 2011 killing of a Nash County Sheriff’s Office deputy.

Lamont Dashawn Byrd admitted to shooting Deputy Warren Basco "Sneak" Lewis III three times in the chest on June 9, 2011, while Lewis – working as a sworn special deputy U.S. marshal – served an arrest warrant at a home on West Lenoir Avenue in Kinston.

Byrd shot Lewis through a closed door inside the residence while the deputy walked downstairs, officials said. Federal prosecutors said Byrd shouted, "See what you made me do?" right after the shooting and ordered friends to hide the murder weapon, a stolen Beretta .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol.

Lewis, along with Kinston police, was at the home to serve an arrest warrant for a homicide earlier that week. Byrd was one of four people wanted for the killing.

“Warren Lewis will always be remembered to us and the entire law enforcement community as a hero and for making the ultimate sacrifice to protect others,” said Stacia Hylton, director of the U.S. Marshals Service, in a statement. “We hope that with this sentencing that Warren Lewis’ family can start to feel a small level of peace and closure after suffering their tragic loss.”