On the night of July 9, 2025, a male juvenile named Jakai Robinson was shot at a gas station along the 6100 block of Knightdale Boulevard near Hodge Road in Knightdale, North Carolina. Deputies with the Wake County Sheriff's Office arrived around 9:40–9:45 p.m. and found Jakai Robinson with a gunshot wound; he was rushed to the hospital and died the next day.
Early reports withheld his name, but subsequent records and memorial listings identified the victim as Jakai Robinson and placed the fatal attack at that intersection.
In the days that followed, the investigation moved from a grim vigil at the pumps to a broader picture of what happened in the minutes before the gunfire. A warrant described a planned drug transaction on July 9 involving half an ounce of marijuana and a buyer known as “J.R.,” details later reported alongside the confirmation that the victim was Jakai Robinson. While that initial paperwork did not resolve whether “J.R.” and Jakai Robinson were the same person, it framed the encounter as one that escalated from a meeting into violence.
By July 22, 2025, two men were in custody. Authorities arrested 29-year-old Tra'von McArthur on charges that included murder and conspiracy to sell and deliver a Schedule VI controlled substance. Investigators also announced charges against 32-year-old Devonte Gary for conspiring to sell and deliver the same controlled substance; he surrendered at the Nash County Detention Facility. Officials said the case remained active even as the suspects faced their first court appearances, keeping open the possibility of additional developments.
What began as an emergency call on a summer night thus became a homicide case with named suspects and a working theory rooted in a drug deal turned deadly. In public records and local news accounts, the name of Jakai Robinson is now attached to a precise place and time, a brief window in which a meeting at a Knightdale gas station cost a young life and set in motion an investigation that, according to deputies, is still unfolding.
