In the early hours of a Thursday morning in Davenport, Iowa, the sound of gunfire shattered the quiet of the 900 block of Marquette Street. It was just after 1 a.m. on April 9, 2020, when police responded to reports of a shooting. Upon their arrival, they discovered a man lying on the sidewalk with life-threatening injuries. The man was identified as 40-year-old Jabari M. Scurlock, a Black male from Racine, Wisconsin.
Despite the immediate medical attention he received, his injuries proved fatal, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into the death of Jabari Scurlock unfolded over the following weeks. The Davenport Police Department treated the case as a homicide and appealed to the public for any information that might lead to an arrest. Nearly a month later, their investigation led them to a suspect. On May 8, 2020, authorities announced the arrest of 35-year-old Princesun Murphy of Davenport.
Princesun Murphy was taken into custody and faced a series of serious charges in connection with Scurlock's death. He was charged with first-degree murder, felon in possession of a firearm, and unauthorized possession of an offensive weapon. Following his arrest, Murphy was booked into the Scott County Jail, bringing a significant development to a case that had begun with a tragic act of violence on a Davenport sidewalk.
