DeShawn Marcel Powell, age 20, was shot and killed on the evening of July 22, 2021, in Hampton, Virginia. He was working at a Papa John’s on East Mercury Boulevard when he intervened in a domestic dispute and was struck by a gunshot wound. Emergency services transported him to a local hospital, where he later died.

Hampton Police identified 22-year-old Jaylin Divyne Avery of Portsmouth as a person of interest the day after the shooting. Avery was taken into custody on August 9, 2021, after a search involving the U.S. Marshals Task Force and the Portsmouth Police Department, and charged with murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and reckless handling of a firearm. Avery later pled guilty after prosecutors showed video evidence to the jury and received a 40-year active prison sentence for his role in Powell’s death.

Did anyone in the Hampton community see or hear about the incident at the Papa John’s on East Mercury Boulevard that night?