On June 5, 2023, at about 3:11 p.m., officers from the Fayetteville Police Department responded to a reported shooting in the 1900 block of Louise Circle and found 25-year-old Xavier Lee Tyreek Copeland inside a residence with a gunshot wound. Emergency personnel began life-saving measures and Copeland was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased. The department’s Homicide Unit opened an investigation; as of June 28, 2023 detectives were still working to determine the cause and manner of death and had not announced any arrests.

Copeland was born April 17, 1998, and is survived by his parents, Leonard Copeland Jr. and Jewmerico Douglas; his two sons, Maceo Maurice Lee Copeland and Messiah Tyreek Lee Copeland; his life partner, Melina Denise Daniels; and several siblings and extended family members. A visitation and celebration of life took place June 22, 2023, at South End Missionary Baptist Church in Fayetteville.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact Detective M. Waters at (910) 635-4978 or submit anonymous tips through Crime Stoppers. Did anyone in the Fayetteville area see or hear anything on Louise Circle that afternoon?