On June 27, 2023, at about 9:08 p.m., deputies responded to a shooting at 135 Beam Road in Lumberton, North Carolina, and found 20-year-old Tazarie Emonte Butler, an emerging rapper known as Lil JBo, deceased from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen. The shooting followed a physical altercation between Butler and a friend, Joshton Locklear, reportedly over the authenticity of Butler’s watch. During the fight, 26-year-old Chamberlain Lee Oxendine intervened and Butler was fatally shot.

After a month-long investigation, a warrant was issued for Oxendine on a charge of first-degree murder. Oxendine surrendered to authorities on August 2, 2023, and was held without bond while the case moved through the courts; a judge later found probable cause to send the charge to Superior Court. The community in Lumberton has been affected deeply by Butler’s death; June 27 has been proclaimed Tazarie Butler Day and supporters have worn purple in his memory. Butler’s mother, Shanna Lowery, has attended hearings and pressed for justice.

If anyone has information about the events at 135 Beam Road on June 27, 2023, or about the people involved, please share what is known.