On the night of July 27, 2025, 21-year-old Xavier Trayshawn Garland, a Black/African American man, was shot and killed during a burst of gunfire on the 500 block of Lane Street in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Officers arriving just after 10 p.m. found a street strewn with shell casings and three people down; Garland was pronounced dead at the scene while two others, ages 21 and 19, were taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital for emergency care.

Elizabeth City police initially described the violence as isolated. In the weeks after the shooting investigators secured warrants for 19-year-old Kashaun Jalek Stokley, who was later taken into custody and charged with murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. Stokley was booked into the Albemarle District Jail without bond and news accounts listed a last known address in the 300 block of Cypress Street.

The community marked the loss with public tributes and a celebration of life arranged through Horton’s Funeral Home and Cremations. Did anyone in Elizabeth City see or hear anything that night on Lane Street that could help investigators?