Jamarqari Burris was a 22-year-old Black/African American man from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, remembered by loved ones as a devoted father of two with a “heart of gold” who brought laughter and joy to the people around him. Online tributes from family describe him as a loving, caring presence, someone who could make anyone smile and who was widely seen as an “everybody’s person,” leaving a deep void in his family and community after his death.
On Thursday, November 20, 2025, that ordinary sense of life in north Baton Rouge was shattered in broad daylight along St. Gerard Avenue near its intersection with East Brookstown Drive, not far from Airline Highway. Around 1:45 p.m., Baton Rouge police officers responded to reports of a shooting in the area and arrived to find Burris lying in the street with apparent gunshot wounds. Despite the efforts of emergency crews at the scene, he was pronounced dead there, and the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office formally confirmed his death the following day.
The Baton Rouge Police Department opened a full homicide investigation, and detectives have been canvassing the neighborhood, reviewing nearby surveillance footage, and interviewing residents and businesses in an effort to reconstruct what led up to the shooting. News reports indicate that the incident occurred in the middle of the day on a normally active residential stretch, turning a familiar block into a crime scene that left neighbors shaken as they watched police cars and crime-scene tape replace routine traffic.
As of the latest publicly available reports, authorities have not announced any arrests, have not publicly identified any suspect or suspects, and have released no details about a possible motive in the killing. One local outlet explicitly noted that no further information had been made available regarding motive or whether anyone had been detained, and police have continued to urge anyone with information about the St. Gerard Avenue shooting to contact Crime Stoppers.
In the days after the shooting, Burris’s family organized an online fundraiser to help cover funeral expenses, describing him as a young father whose kindness and warmth had touched many lives. The National Gun Violence Memorial added his name to its list of Louisiana victims, marking November 20, 2025, as the date he was lost to gun violence in Baton Rouge. Together, the memorial entry and the fundraiser paint a picture of a cherished son, nephew, and father whose life ended suddenly on a Thursday afternoon, leaving loved ones to grieve and a community still waiting for answers and accountability from whoever was responsible.
