Jason Stokes, a 38-year-old man from Wilmington, North Carolina, was found dead from a single gunshot wound to the face in a fenced-in yard on Fullwood Street on February 4, 2020. Wilmington Police responded to a ShotSpotter alert at 11:30 p.m. and discovered Stokes; paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Investigators arrested 48-year-old Donte Jamal Rollinson near the scene and charged him with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a felon. A .45 caliber handgun recovered at the scene was later identified as the murder weapon. At trial the defense said a stranger in similar clothing had entered the yard and knocked Rollinson unconscious; the prosecution presented State Crime Lab evidence and testimony from a Wilmington police officer who is a certified drug recognition expert that Rollinson was impaired on phencyclidine but nonetheless capable of forming premeditated, deliberate intent. A jury found Rollinson guilty of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Stokes was remembered by friends as always friendly and well-respected.