On July 9, 2023, 20-year-old Nyjeon Damerae Brandon of Martinsville, Virginia, was shot while a passenger in a vehicle on the 300 block of Commonwealth Boulevard West near the Chopstix restaurant. Private citizens brought Brandon to the Sovah Health emergency room around 2:25 a.m. with gunshot wounds; he died shortly after arrival despite medical efforts.

Martinsville police have treated the killing as a targeted act, with the police chief describing it as a premeditated murder and an outright execution in which Brandon was the intended target. Investigators executed several search warrants and awaited state lab results as the probe continued.

Friends and family marked what would have been Brandon’s 21st birthday while urging anyone with information to come forward to help bring justice. Does anyone who was in the Commonwealth Boulevard West area that night or who knows more about Brandon’s movements have information to share?