On Sunday evening, March 6, 2016, 21-year-old Samuel Davis, a Black man from Jackson, Mississippi, was shot multiple times on Fontaine Avenue near Eminence Row in the Virden Addition and pronounced dead at the scene. Police described an argument that escalated into a confrontation involving multiple people, several armed, and witnesses reported gunfire exchanged across the street; officers found more than forty shell casings scattered on the roadway. Detectives recovered a handgun from Davis’s body and said he was both a victim and an active participant in the exchange.

The violence spilled beyond the block. A short time later officers found 51-year-old Janice Grayer, shot in the upper torso while sitting in her car; she had crashed while trying to drive toward help and was later pronounced dead at the hospital. Police said Grayer was not part of the Fontaine altercation and was an innocent bystander struck in the crossfire. Anyone who knew Samuel or has information about the Fontaine Avenue shootings is asked to contact investigators or Crime Stoppers.