James Anthony Davis Jr

James Anthony Davis Jr., known to his loved ones as Jay, was a father of six remembered for his outgoing personality and humble spirit. Born on June 26, 1988, to Jaculine Clayton and James Davis Sr., the 29-year-old was a graduate of Mount Tabor High School in his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Though he worked various jobs, his true passion was as a party promoter. Friends and family described him as a positive, loving man and a great father, whose death left a void in their lives.

In the early morning hours of Friday, December 15, 2017, that life was cut short. Shortly after 1:00 a.m., James arrived with others in a silver Acura MDX at a business located at 550 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. While James and his companions were inside, a silver Dodge Charger pulled into the parking lot and waited. When James exited the business and returned to the passenger seat of the Acura, a man emerged from the Charger, approached the passenger-side window, and shot him.

The Acura then sped away from the scene, traveling north toward Cleveland Avenue. Around 1:45 a.m., Winston-Salem Police Department officers, responding to reports of gunfire in the area, were notified by the city’s fire department of a car crash nearby. At 715 N. Cleveland Avenue, they found the silver Acura MDX had collided with a parked, unoccupied vehicle. Inside, officers discovered James in the passenger seat, suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Detectives with the Criminal Investigations Division immediately began an investigation, stating they did not believe the shooting was a random act of violence. The death marked the 24th homicide in Winston-Salem that year. In March 2018, police publicly identified 26-year-old Rashone Edward Lee as a suspect and issued a warrant for his arrest on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious bodily harm. Later that same month, on March 27, Rashone Lee turned himself in to the Forsyth County Magistrate’s Office around 8:50 p.m. and was taken into custody.

The case against Lee proceeded through the justice system for more than two years. In September 2020, he accepted a plea deal in connection with the killing of James Davis. A Forsyth County prosecutor stated that the shooting stemmed from a dispute over a woman. As a result of his guilty plea to a murder charge, Rashone Lee was sentenced to serve a minimum of 14 years in prison.

Following James's death, his family held funeral services at The Love Church on December 21, 2017, and he was laid to rest in Piedmont Memorial Gardens. In the years that followed, community groups held vigils to honor his memory, including one on what would have been his 30th birthday in June 2018. As of September 2020, the legal proceedings in the case against Rashone Lee have concluded, bringing a measure of resolution to the family of James Anthony Davis Jr.