On the morning of June 1, 2023, 34-year-old Rocco Marcus Nixon was shot multiple times in front of a daycare on King Street in Portsmouth, Virginia. He had been at the center to pay a bill; his children were waiting in his car and witnessed the shooting. Nixon was taken to a local hospital and pronounced deceased.

Portsmouth police initially named a person of interest; investigators later identified and arrested Ryheem Jasaun Hargrow Pugh. Evidence presented at trial described both men arriving in separate vehicles, exiting those vehicles, and Pugh firing the shots that killed Nixon. In February 2024 a jury found Pugh guilty of second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and shooting in the commission of a felony. On April 30, 2024, Pugh was sentenced to 18 years in prison followed by three years of supervised probation.

This killing occurred in front of a daycare and in the presence of Nixon’s children, who survive him. If anyone has information about the moments before the shooting or knew Rocco Nixon, please share what you know.