Kentravion Jones-Humphrey, a 21-year-old man, was gravely wounded just before dawn on June 28, 2025, when shots rang out along Hanby Avenue in Kure Beach, a small town on Pleasure Island near Carolina Beach. Responding officers found him with life-threatening injuries; he was rushed to the hospital and, according to subsequent reports and his obituary, died two days later on Monday, June 30.
Some memorial listings mark June 28 in Carolina Beach as the date and place associated with his killing, reflecting the immediate aftermath of the shooting and the close-knit geography of the island communities.
Police arrested 20-year-old Doyan Lee Pierce of Jacksonville at the scene on June 28. Initial charges included one count of felony assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury, along with two misdemeanor counts for allegedly pointing a revolver at two additional people during the incident. A magistrate's order described the use of a. 22-caliber revolver and named the two other men Pierce was accused of threatening.
After Kentravion Jones-Humphrey, age 21, succumbed to his injuries, authorities upgraded the case to second-degree murder on July 1, 2025. Local outlets reported that Pierce was then charged with one count of felony second-degree murder as the investigation continued, with officials emphasizing that it appeared to be an isolated incident. Court proceedings were expected to follow as detectives worked the case and gathered evidence.
In the weeks that followed, family and friends marked the loss of Kentravion Jones-Humphrey, age 21, through funeral notices and memorial pages that chronicled his dates—March 18, 2004 to June 30, 2025—and the services held in Jacksonville, North Carolina. These tributes, along with gun-violence archives and local reporting, frame a portrait of a young life cut short by gunfire on a quiet beach morning and a case that moved swiftly from an emergency call to an arrest and a murder charge.
