Family hopes someone helps police bring man’s killer to justice
By Kimberly King
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ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Keith Blair was 31 when he was shot and killed outside a West Asheville bar early Saturday morning.
Blair’s daughter, 3-year-old Kyus, and son, 1-year-old Blair, will never see their father again.
“What if somebody killed your father or your son?” Blair’s cousin Grover Alexander asked, on behalf of the family. “If you know who did it, then, yes, speak up.”
Alexander and his daughter Sable are angry witnesses to the shooting outside the Westville Pub behind the bar, aren’t helping Asheville police find the shooters.
“I don’t call it snitching,” Grover Alexander said. “I call it, telling the truth.”
Blair was shot multiple times about 1 a.m. Saturday. Surveillance video showed two men going in and out of the bar seconds before and after Blair was killed. Patrons ran for cover. Both men had semi-automatic weapons. One of the suspects is seen holding two guns as he goes in and out of the bar.
“It’s critically important witnesses come forward,” said Capt. Joe Silberman, who oversees Asheville Police Department’s criminal investigations. “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.”
Detective Sgt. John Meindl used a machine called a shot tank to fire the two guns recovered and sent the resulting casings to the State Crime Lab hoping for a match to casings found at previous Asheville shooting scenes. The goal is to find suspects and connect them to evidence found where Blair died.
“We want justice for him,” Sable Alexanders, Keith’s cousin said. “Somebody knows something, and somebody should speak on it.”
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