Jaelyn Barham-Wooden was 20 when she was shot late on the night of February 15, 2025, inside an apartment in Richmond’s East End near the Ashley Oaks Apartments and Gillies Creek Park. Patrol officers were dispatched just before 10:45 p.m. to the 1300 block of Jennie Scher Road after a report of a shooting. Officers found Barham-Wooden inside with gunshot wounds; she was rushed to a hospital but died from her injuries and the incident was treated as a homicide.

Richmond Police opened a Major Crimes investigation and initially released few details: no motive, no clear explanation of what led to the gunfire, and no publicly described relationship between the shooter and the victim. By the end of February authorities focused on a suspect. Police announced that 22-year-old Damarcus Branch of Petersburg was charged with murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and was served with indictments on February 27, 2025. The motive and the nature of any connection between Branch and Barham-Wooden have not been publicly explained.

If anyone knew Jaelyn or has information about what happened on Jennie Scher Road that night, please contact Major Crimes detectives.