WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - D’Asia Washington-Barnhill got the call when she was at the airport, on her way to Jamaica for a trip.Her longtime friend, Wilmington resident Montez Loftin, had been hit while walking along NC 210 in Rocky Point. Two weeks after celebrating his 35th birthday, Loftin was dead.“It’s like, ‘Nah not him, you know?’ So for me, it hasn’t really set in yet. I cried and cried yesterday. I cried last night. I’m probably going to cry on my way back to (work),” Was...
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - D’Asia Washington-Barnhill got the call when she was at the airport, on her way to Jamaica for a trip.
Her longtime friend, Wilmington resident Montez Loftin, had been hit while walking along NC 210 in Rocky Point. Two weeks after celebrating his 35th birthday, Loftin was dead.
“It’s like, ‘Nah not him, you know?’ So for me, it hasn’t really set in yet. I cried and cried yesterday. I cried last night. I’m probably going to cry on my way back to (work),” Washington-Barnhill said inside Loftin’s mother’s house on Sunday afternoon.
Loftin was walking with Sheniqua Scott early Sunday morning after a bonfire near I-40 in Rocky Point when Ethan Melton, 18, allegedly struck both of them, killing Loftin and leaving Scott in the hospital, according to authorities.
Melton is facing several changes, including two counts of felony hit-and-run, felony death by vehicle and driving while intoxicated
The incident has left Loftin’s family and friends struggling throughout the week. Washington-Barnhill described him as a beautiful, kind spirit always there for the people around him.
“You need a laugh? He got you. Need some money? He got you. Need to talk? He got you. If you just needed somebody to listen, he was always just gonna be there,” she said.
Loftin’s uncle, Terry Flood, described him as a family man. Loftin was a father of seven and expecting another child, Washington-Barnhill said.
“They were his everything. They were his reason why. They were why he got up every morning and went so hard every day,” Flood said.
A quiet man, Loftin was “dedicated” to his work, Flood said. He worked as an independent contractor, and had plans to start his own trucking company. Just before his death, Loftin had even finishing setting up an LLC, Flood said.
“He wasn’t about a lot of words. He was a man of action and he was a man of faith,” Flood said. “Everything he did was intentional and led to enhancing the greater good for everyone.”
Washington-Barnhill said their friend group used to regularly gather for reunions. After not doing one the past two years, this year’s reunion – at their friend’s wake on Friday – was unexpected and emotional.
“I feel like his purpose was just to see,” she said. “If you didn’t feel seen, he saw you. Even if you didn’t really interact with him, you saw his energy, you felt his energy.
“That was a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful person.”
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