Surtonia Burton, 51, a woman from Statesville, was found just after 1:30 p.m. on August 2, 2025, lying in front of a home in the 1000 block of Fifth Street with multiple gunshot wounds. First responders rushed her to a local hospital, where she died a short time later. Detectives from the Statesville Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division and Violent Crimes Unit processed the scene and interviewed witnesses while the neighborhood absorbed the shock of a broad-daylight shooting
on a residential block.
Within hours, investigators identified 26-year-old Titeon Breshaun Burton as the primary suspect and began searching for him. Around 4:45 p.m., officers located him at a business on Oakland Avenue; when they moved to detain him, he fled on foot. The pursuit ended behind a residence on Broom Street, where, as officers approached, he sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead while being transported by EMS. With the suspected gunman deceased, police reported no arrests in the case and stated the investigation remained active, asking anyone with information to contact the department.
Public reports and compiled incident records describe the victim and suspect as family members who lived on the same street, and local outlets reiterated that no one else was being sought. Memorial pages and news accounts marked Burton’s killing as part of a murder-suicide that unfolded in the span of a few hours, closing a day that began with a shooting on Fifth Street and ended with the suspect’s death as officers closed in.
