Lakiesha Sutton, 23, was working as a clerk at Murphy Express on US 13 south beside the Ahoskie Wal Mart when a verbal altercation escalated into gunfire in the early hours of August 3, 2016. Reportedly she went outside to try to calm things and was struck in the head by a bullet. Airlifted to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, she died about 16 hours later.

An investigation led to the arrest of 23-year-old Shakur Deandre Stephenson, described as a family friend; he was taken into custody in Henrico County, Virginia, on August 11, 2016, and later returned to North Carolina. Stephenson was tried beginning February 4, 2019; after a seven-day trial a Hertford County Superior Court jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and related firearm and assault counts, and he received life without parole. Lakiesha’s family and community remembered her as sweet and caring.