On April 2 Montasia Arrington let Jamazia Tillery into her Roanoke Rapids apartment so he could visit the former couple’s child for a while, the 20-year-old woman who was shot and killed Tuesday morning wrote in a domestic violence protective order form she took out against him.
“It was 4-2-22 when I let my (child’s) father come visit the baby for a little while,” she wrote. “He asked to use my phone to call his sister. Once I heard he wasn’t on the phone anymore I got the child out of bed to go get my phone.”
That’s when Tillery, the 22-year-old Roanoke Rapids man who is wanted for killing her in Littleton, told her, “You’re cheating on me.”
Montasia wrote in the form they were not together at that point. “Then he began punching me like a man and gets a kitchen knife.”
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In the arrest warrant filed against Tillery by Roanoke Rapids police, Officer N. Powell wrote that Tillery came to Arrington’s place at Fairfield Apartments to visit their 1-year-old child. “The defendant saw the plaintiff’s phone had messages from another man and he started beating her in the face with his fists and went into the kitchen and got a knife.”
The warrant for that portion of the charges says Arrington’s hands were cut defending herself. The injury from the beating left Arrington’s face swollen and an eye swollen shut.
Powell wrote in another warrant in the case Tillery restrained Arrington with a knife “for the purpose of doing seriously bodily harm” to the mother of their child.
Tillery also damaged Arrington’s phone, causing a $200 repair bill, another warrant says.
Arrington, according to Roanoke Rapids police at the time, was able to escape and call for help. Tillery fled but was caught a short time later and jailed on a 48-hour hold without the opportunity for bond due to the domestic nature of the case.
Roanoke Rapids charged him with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, assault on a female, communicating threats, kidnapping, and damage to property.
At the time Tillery listed his residence as 1930 Roanoke Avenue.
On April 5 Tillery appeared in Halifax County District Court and Judge W. Turner Stephenson set his bond at $40,000 with the condition he have no contact with the victim.
A bondsman through Palmetto Surety Corporation posted his bond. The document indicates that Tillery put down $4,000 for release on April 5. The jail certificate accompanying the pretrial release documentation shows Tillery was released from the detention center shortly before 5:45 p.m.
This past Tuesday, two weeks after his release, Littleton police received a call shortly before 7 a.m. in which a young woman and her mother had been shot at an apartment on Little Drive off Ferguson Street.
At the time she filed the domestic violence protective order against Tillery, Arrington was still using her Fairfield Apartments address. Littleton police said it was not clear when Arrington moved in with her mother, Teresa Arrington, who was released from medical care after she was shot in the hip.
Her daughter was shot inside the apartment and outside. Authorities found Montasia Arrington deceased at the scene.
Tillery is wanted by Littleton police for felony murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, firing into an occupied dwelling and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Littleton police Chief Phillip Trivette said this afternoon that as of this report Tillery has not been located. The United States Marshals Service Task Force is assisting the police department in its search for the man.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the police department at 252-586-3413 or Crimestoppers at 252-583-4444.
