Late in the afternoon on July 14, 2025, police were called to reports of gunfire at the Keating Pointe apartments on 2nd Street SE in Hickory, North Carolina. Officers arrived around 5:40 p.m. and found Keimarian Donyah Peterson, 22, a Black male from Hickory, deceased at the scene. Investigators said the shooting happened outside the complex at 1123 2nd Street SE, and early accounts described it as a drive-by attack.
Detectives canvassed the area, collected nearly a dozen shell casings, and asked the public for tips, including information about a Dodge Charger seen after the gunfire. Local coverage noted that Peterson had been walking home when the shots were fired, underscoring how suddenly the violence unfolded.
Ten days later, investigators announced an arrest. Nineteen-year-old Jaheem Quashawn Harris of Lenoir was taken into custody and charged with murder in Peterson’s death. Authorities reported that Harris was booked into the Catawba County Detention Facility without bond as the case continued to develop. City officials and regional outlets linked the charge directly to the July 14 shooting at Keating Pointe, marking a major step in the investigation.
Obituary notices and memorial pages later identified Peterson by his full name, Keimarian Donyah Peterson, with friends and family remembering him as a Hickory native whose life ended amid the summer evening’s gunfire. The arrest did not close the chapter for investigators; police continued to ask anyone with knowledge of the shooting to come forward as they worked to reconstruct the moments that led to his death.
