On the night of July 1, 2023, police in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, responded to an apartment on Burke Village Lane and found 55-year-old Sharon Ross dead of a gunshot wound to the head. Officers believe the shooting occurred roughly 75 minutes before their arrival around 10:45 p.m. Initial accounts at the scene pointed to a physical altercation between Sharon and her son, 21-year-old Joshua Isiah Ross, and witnesses reported Joshua had been acting erratically and said he had killed his mother.

Investigators say video shows Joshua leaving and returning to the apartment several times that night. He and his mother had recently argued over his desire to buy a gun, and she had kicked him out. The gun used in the shooting was recovered near the scene and had been purchased by Joshua about two weeks earlier. Joshua gave multiple false statements to police—first accusing a cousin, then alleging an unknown assailant, before admitting to shooting his mother and saying it occurred during a struggle over the weapon. He also told officers he was high, though no drugs or paraphernalia were found.

Joshua Ross was arrested, charged with murder, and held without bond. He was later convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced in June 2025.