In the summer of 2016, the life of 21-year-old Stanton Stafford Saunders, a Black male known affectionately as 'Trap' to friends and family, was cut tragically short on the streets of Gulfport, Mississippi. An aspiring rapper and a graduate of West Harrison High School where he had been a member of the football team, Saunders was a father who had dreams of moving to Atlanta to further his music career.
On the morning of June 8, 2016, Saunders was found with a gunshot wound to the chest
near the intersection of 34th Avenue and Ganges Street. Witnesses reported seeing him running from an assailant. He was rushed to Memorial Hospital at Gulfport but succumbed to his injuries at 12:09 p.m. His death marked the city's sixth homicide of the year and occurred within a 13-hour span of another fatal shooting in North Gulfport.
The investigation into Saunders' death quickly focused on 18-year-old Juwan Johnson. Investigators discovered that just half an hour before the shooting, Saunders had recorded a Snapchat video in which he named three individuals, including Johnson, who he believed intended to harm him, referencing threatening Facebook posts. According to court testimony, the tragic encounter began with a fight between Saunders and Johnson near the Isiah Fredericks Community Center. Surveillance footage and witness accounts revealed that Johnson chased Saunders across a field, shooting him in the back. As Saunders collapsed in the street, Johnson reportedly fired three more shots.
Following the shooting, Johnson fled to Florida. He was apprehended in Lake County on June 23, 2016, and subsequently extradited back to Mississippi to face charges. He was held on a $1.3 million bond. The legal proceedings that followed were closely watched by a community shaken by the violence that had claimed a young life full of potential. Stanton Saunders was survived by his parents, a son, and was awaiting the birth of a daughter. He was laid to rest at Pine Ridge Cemetery in Gulfport.
