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GREENSBORO — A 16-year-old boy was gunned down midday Tuesday in a shooting that police believe may be connected to rivalry among teenagers.

Breyon Shon Deese was found shot to death about noon on a pedestrian bridge that connects two sections of the Hickory Trails apartment complex at 4214 Bernau Ave. The complex is operated by the Greensboro Housing Authority.

Police said the victim was shot several times. Authorities are interviewing a “person of interest” in the case but have filed no formal charges nor released a motive.

The shooting happened in the same complex where a 7-year-old girl was shot in the ear last Thursday night. She is recovering at home.

Police Chief Tim Bellamy said a preliminary investigation indicates the homicide could be connected to the shooting.

Bellamy said police believe that both crimes stemmed from an escalating dispute between at least two teenagers that followed a recent fight at a nearby gas station. He stopped short of describing the shootings as gang-related.

Darryl Simpson, who said he is the grandfather of the girl shot last week, said the homicide victim was his neighbor. Deese and his family lived at 4404-E Sellers Ave., the apartment the girl was visiting last week when she was shot.

Simpson said he was at home Tuesday when he heard four or five gunshots from the wooded area. He and members of Deese’s family ran toward the woods to find the teen bleeding from the neck.

Deese was pronounced dead when police and EMS arrived minutes later.

Deese’s mother, Kesha McNeil, 37, said she has been under “constant threat” at the complex, having her van shot at in April. She asked to be transferred to another apartment.

“I’ve been crying out for help,” she said with tears making tracks down her face.

McNeil met with housing authority officials Tuesday. She said they told her that her lease would be terminated just before she heard more bad news — her eldest child and only son was dead.

“They done killed my baby,” she said.

Deese, described as nice and funny, will not get to see his own son grow up. His 15-year-old girlfriend is nearly eight months pregnant.

“I’m numb. I’m hurt. I’m angry,” McNeil said.

She said the recent shootings and her son’s death are related. “It’s connected. They all in the same group,” she said of the shooters.

Multiple neighbors said they believe both crimes were connected to the teen rivalry.

“There are people walking through the area with guns in the middle of the day, taunting one another,” said a woman who wouldn’t give her full name for fear of retribution.

The woman said that in May she requested a transfer to another apartment after seeing a teen walking through the complex during the day with a long-barrel shotgun as her kids played nearby.

“It was a really nice area before, but things started escalating in May,” she said, noting there have been several fights related to the groups at the complex recently.

G. Harris, who has family members living in the area, said the boys have been known to sell drugs out of apartments at the complex.

“(The violence) is going to keep happening until they move those people out of here,” Harris said. “It’s the kids getting hurt.”

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com

Contact Dioni L. Wise at 373-7090 or dioni.wise@news-record.com