On the evening of December 4, 2024, gunfire shattered the quiet around the 4800 block of Lanford Street NW in Roanoke, Virginia. When officers arrived around 6:50 p.m., they found Rafael Perez Naranjo, a 32-year-old Latino man, suffering from gunshot wounds. The injuries were catastrophic, and he died there at the scene before the night had even settled.
In the hours that followed, the area became a patchwork of flashing lights and tense conversations as investigators tried to piece
together what had happened and why. Detectives worked the scene and began tracing the last movements around Lanford Street, while police urged anyone who had seen something or heard anything to come forward, emphasizing that even small details could matter.
As the investigation advanced, police said it led them to two suspects. Detectives obtained warrants, and on December 20, 2024, a coordinated effort involving the Roanoke Police Department’s Violence Suppression Unit, the Star City Task Force, and the Roanoke County SWAT Team moved in to locate and take the suspects into custody in Roanoke County.
Authorities identified the arrested suspects as Juan Quontell Welton and Joanna Lee Felts. Both were charged with second-degree murder in connection with Perez Naranjo’s death, shifting the case from an open-ended search for answers into a courtroom fight over responsibility for what happened on Lanford Street. Even with arrests made, public reports did not lay out a detailed motive, leaving the broader story—what sparked the violence and how Perez Naranjo ended up in its path—to be argued through the legal process rather than explained in the immediate aftermath.
