Trevon Durham, a 26-year-old Black man from Columbus, Ohio, spent his final evening inside a small specialty shop along the 2200 block of South Hamilton Road, where the bright lights of the Plaza East strip mall cut into the November dusk. It was just after nightfall on November 17, 2025, when police say an argument inside the store spiraled into violence.
Moments later, officers responding to reports of gunfire would find Trevon unresponsive on the floor, struck by a gunshot that ended his life before the night was even an hour old. Madison Township medics tried to help, but he was pronounced dead at 8:01 p.m., his death formally recorded as a homicide.
The shooting unfolded inside ZZ Boots Wildman’s Leather-N-Lace, a leather and lingerie shop that also has been described as a shoe and specialty store, tucked into the Plaza East strip mall at 2264 South Hamilton Road in southeast Columbus. Officers were dispatched around 7:51 p.m. after calls came in about shots fired inside the business. When they arrived, they found Trevon suffering from a gunshot wound, the store transformed from an offbeat retail space into the scene of a killing. A Columbus police lieutenant later shared that there had been some kind of argument inside the shop shortly before the gun was fired, suggesting a confrontation that escalated suddenly and catastrophically in the close quarters of the store.
In the immediate aftermath, the scene around the strip mall filled with flashing lights and shaken bystanders. A man whose family owns the store told reporters that his father had been working that night, describing the fear of not knowing whether a loved one was safe and the rush of relief when he finally heard his father’s voice on the phone. Police noted that the shop is equipped with surveillance cameras, raising hope that video might reveal clearer details about the argument, the moments leading up to the gunshot, and whoever pulled the trigger. Inside the official paperwork, Trevon’s name, age, and race were entered into the homicide log, while the suspect lines remained blank, a stark reminder of how quickly a life can be reduced to a few lines on a police form when the investigation is still in its earliest stages.
Outside of the technical language of reports and press releases, Trevon’s death rippled through his community in more human terms. On a remembrance page, he is described as a beloved son, friend, and community member, known affectionately by the nickname “Chubbs Longliveqb,” someone whose presence filled rooms with energy and warmth and who lifted others with his laughter and loyalty. Friends and strangers alike lit virtual candles in his memory, adding his name to the long, grim roll of lives lost to gun violence, but also insisting that he was more than a statistic. Tributes emphasize that he had dreams, stories, and relationships still unfolding, and that those who loved him now carry his memory forward in their grief, trying to honor the person he was rather than the violence that took him away.
As detectives took over the case, the official investigation moved forward in measured steps. The Columbus Division of Police issued a homicide bulletin identifying Trevon as the victim and asking anyone with information to contact the lead detective, the Homicide Unit, or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers. Early news coverage reported that officers had no suspect information to release and that no one had yet been taken into custody. Other summaries of the incident noted that authorities detained individuals at or near the scene for questioning in the chaotic minutes after the shooting, but there has been no public indication that any of those detentions led to formal charges. In the days following his death, city briefings and audio news updates continued to describe the case as an active investigation, with no named suspect and no announced arrests, leaving Trevon’s family and community waiting for answers and hoping that the combination of witness accounts, store surveillance, and public tips will eventually bring some measure of justice for the life that was lost inside that southeast Columbus store.
