Rakim Jamar Shackleford was a 31-year-old African American man who died of a gunshot wound on January 27, 2022, in Wilson, North Carolina. Officers first encountered him the evening of January 26 when they responded to a burglary in progress on Ashbrook Drive NW; Wilson County EMS took him to the hospital that night. He had earlier been in a car accident that overturned his vehicle in a rural Wilson County ditch and received treatment for those injuries.

Officers were called back to the Ashbrook Drive location about 1:30 a.m. on January 27 and found Shackleford with a fatal gunshot wound. The Wilson Police Department is investigating; no arrests have been announced and the shooter’s identity remains unknown. The community and his family are left seeking answers after this violent death.

If anyone has information about what happened that night, please contact the Wilson Police Department.