TyMarcus Jamir Newton, a 20-year-old African American man, was killed in a shooting at a birthday party in Rose Hill, North Carolina, on January 11, 2025. Duplin County 911 received a distress call about 12:24 a.m.; deputies and ECU Health Police responded. Newton suffered a single gunshot wound to the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene. A female partygoer was also shot in the knee and survived with non-life-threatening injuries.

Authorities say a dispute at the party escalated and that investigators identified Khamani Morrisey as the shooter. Morrisey allegedly fired a handgun, struck both victims, then fled. He turned himself in at the Duplin County Sheriff’s Office on January 14, 2025, and was charged with one count of felony murder and one count of felony assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury; he is being held without bond.

Newton’s funeral was scheduled for January 20, 2025, at James Kenan High School with burial at Bowden Family Cemetery. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Duplin County Sheriff’s Office or Duplin County Crime Stoppers Tip-line.