On the afternoon of August 27, 2025, Dasean L. Banks, 19, Black male, was found dead outside the New Dixie Mart—known locally as Presto—on Julian R. Allsbrook Highway in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. Police said they were called to the store around 1 p.m.; inside, they found another man, Anthony Shearin, suffering from gunshot wounds. Shearin was rushed first to ECU North Hospital and then to Greenville, where he later died. The police identified Dasean L.
Banks, 19, male, at the scene, marking the start of an investigation that quickly focused on a third man who had been present before and during the confrontation.
In the immediate aftermath, investigators charged Ju-Quan Letrae Rawles, 26, with obstruction of justice, noting actions they said he took after the shooting. Two days later, police obtained two warrants charging Rawles with murder in the deaths of Dasean L. Banks, 19, male, and Anthony Shearin. According to statements summarized by local authorities, Rawles allegedly left the scene, changed clothes, and concealed the weapon, before investigators pieced together the sequence of events that began earlier that week.
Detectives said the violence was rooted in an altercation the night before between Dasean L. Banks, 19, male, and Shearin. On Wednesday, Banks returned to the store with Rawles and confronted Shearin. During that confrontation, police said, Rawles shot Shearin—and in the same burst of gunfire, Rawles also shot and killed Dasean L. Banks, 19, male. Investigators added that Shearin had a firearm at the time that was confirmed stolen. Rawles was ordered held without bond while the case continued to develop.
The identity and age of Dasean L. Banks, 19, male, were further confirmed through memorial and funeral notices published after his death, which recorded his date of death as August 27, 2025, in Roanoke Rapids. Community posts and memorials described him as a young life cut short amid a dispute that escalated to deadly gunfire at a neighborhood store.
