Victoria Faith Jefferson was fatally shot on April 17, 2023, in the 5500 block of Gilcrest Sands Drive in Hope Mills, North Carolina. The shooting occurred just before midnight and wounded two other people, including Jefferson’s best friend, Ashley Johnson. Neighbors described the location as a hotspot for trouble.

On May 16, 2023, 21-year-old Jocephus Jones III of Fayetteville was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with Jefferson’s death; he was taken into custody by the Fayetteville Police Department and held without bond at the Cumberland County Detention Center. A second arrest followed on July 7, 2023, when 22-year-old Jayquan Deshawn Blandshaw of Hope Mills was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury; he was also held without bond at the Cumberland County Detention Center.

Jefferson was 18 and left behind a one-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son, who are being raised by their grandparents. Her mother, Arlene Hunt, and her father, Apostle Solomon Hunt, spoke about the family’s grief; Solomon Hunt delivered her eulogy and described it as the most challenging task in his 32 years of preaching. Authorities continue to seek information about the circumstances of the shooting and ask anyone with details to contact the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office or Crime Stoppers.

Did anyone in the Hope Mills area see or hear anything that night that could help clarify what happened?