Jaron Burris, 32, a Black male, was shot and killed in the early hours of Saturday, August 2, 2025, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Officers were dispatched around 1 a.m. to the area of Queens Court off Stokes Street, where they found Burris in a parking area with a gunshot wound to the face. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Local coverage identified him by name and age and documented the time and place of the shooting, as well as the fatal injury.
Within hours, police announced an arrest. Investigators charged 33-year-old Kenneth Ray Bryant Jr. with first-degree murder in connection with Burris’s death. Reports indicated that Bryant Jr. was taken into custody on Saturday and booked on the homicide charge the same day the shooting occurred. Authorities said the case remained under active investigation as detectives continued to process evidence and pursue leads.
Public memorial pages and funeral notices later confirmed Burris’s identity and date of death, and community remembrance listings recorded him among those lost to gun violence in Rocky Mount in 2025. An online obituary from a Rocky Mount funeral home listed services in early September and noted his passing on August 2, while a statewide memorial archive recorded his name, age, and the city where he was killed.
While neighborhood-specific details varied in some early reports—reflecting the immediate, evolving nature of breaking news—local outlets consistently agreed on the central facts: Burris was fatally shot shortly after 1 a.m. on August 2, 2025, and a single suspect, identified by police as Kenneth Ray Bryant Jr., was arrested and charged with first-degree murder that same day. Authorities stated that the investigation was ongoing, and no further motive or additional suspects were publicly detailed in the initial releases.
