In the early hours of a Sunday morning in Roanoke, Virginia, the life of Terrance Devon Pannell, a 26-year-old Black male, was tragically cut short. On October 15, 2017, Roanoke Police were dispatched to the 1600 block of Mercer Avenue NW around 12:34 a.m. following a report of a man down with a gunshot wound. Inside a residence, officers found Pannell suffering from at least one gunshot wound.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The grim discovery was made by his fiancée, who had gone to check on him at the house he was in the process of renovating. She found the back door open and her fiancé fatally wounded inside. The incident sent shockwaves through his family, particularly his mother, who was now faced with the devastating loss of a second son to gun violence in northwest Roanoke. Her other son had been killed in 2013. Described as a family-oriented man, Terrance had a baby, a fiancée, and a loving extended family, including his parents, grandparents, and siblings.
In the wake of the shooting, police collected potential physical evidence from the scene and interviewed several people acquainted with Pannell to piece together a timeline of the events leading to his death. Despite these efforts and public appeals for information, no arrests have been made in connection with the homicide of Terrance Devon Pannell. The investigation into his death remains ongoing as his family continues to await justice.
