He’s a good-looking kid who made the UNC football team and was beginning law school before a bar fight in Charlotte ended with him allegedly shoving a guy into traffic, killing him instantly.
Now Lee County high School and UNC graduate Kenan Gay faces second-degree murder charges and a trial that began with jury selection on Tuesday in Charlotte. Gay, the grandson of former Lee County football coach and North Carolina Sports Hall of Famer Paul Gay [whom LCHS’ football stadium is named for] is charged with killing Robert Kingston, a Charlotte-area sportswriter. The two men crossed paths in March 2012 at Ed’s Tavern in the Dilworth neighborhood of Charlotte, when according to the Charlotte Observer, Kingston tried to kiss Gay’s girlfriend [now his wife], Liz Wicker.
Surveillance video from the bar showed Gay grabbing Kingston after Kingston put his hands on Wicker’s rear and shoved him out the bar by the collar. The prosecution will try to prove that Gay forcefully shoved Kingston into the street, where he was struck by a car. The defense will contend that Kingston’s death was accidental and the result of him being intoxicated at the time of the fight.
For a detailed account on the incident, read Elizabeth Leland’s article from the Charlotte Observer in 2013.