In the quiet community of Bassett, Virginia, the life of Lewis Jovon Rumley, a 42-year-old Black man, was abruptly cut short on the evening of November 20, 2021. A well-known and respected figure in the area, Rumley was the owner and operator of L. J. Rumley Trucking Company and an active member of the Flaming Knights Motorcycle Club. His death sent ripples of shock and sorrow through the community that knew him as a dedicated family man and a positive influence.
On that Saturday
evening, at approximately 8:18 p.m., the Henry County Sheriff's Office received a call reporting a shooting in a parking lot on Blackberry Road. Upon their arrival just five minutes later, deputies discovered Rumley lying on the ground, having sustained at least one gunshot wound to his torso. Despite the immediate response, he was pronounced dead at the scene. The subsequent investigation would reveal that Rumley had arranged to meet an acquaintance in the parking lot. Both men reportedly exited their vehicles, at which point the fatal shot was fired. His body was later transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the Western District of Virginia for an autopsy.
The investigation quickly identified 20-year-old Dewayne Euvonne Austin Jr. of Martinsville as the primary suspect. Warrants were issued for his arrest on charges of first-degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The relationship between the two men added a tragic layer to the incident, as it was reported that Rumley had acted as a mentor to the younger man and had even opened his home to him on multiple occasions. The motive for the fatal encounter remained unclear in the immediate aftermath.
The day after the shooting, on November 21, 2021, Dewayne Euvonne Austin Jr. turned himself in to the authorities. He was subsequently served with the arrest warrants and held in the Henry County Jail without bond. The community was left to grapple with the loss of a man described as a devoted father and an active member of his church, as the legal process against the man he had tried to guide began to unfold.
