Mother speaks out on Guilford County teen homicide, seeks justice

A Salisbury mother is pressing Guilford County for answers more than a year and a half after her 16-year-old son, David White Jr., was shot to death in McLeansville, a case that remains open and has produced no announced arrest. Carlisha Gray spoke publicly for the first time on April 10, and investigators renewed their request for help as the homicide stayed on the sheriff’s active case list. ([myfox8.com](myfox8.com/news/triad-mother-speaks-out-after-son-shot-killed-god-is-going-to-make-them-answer-for-what-they-did/))

Deputies responded around 6 a.m. on Oct. 21, 2024, to 4925 Harvest Road in McLeansville after a 911 call reporting an “unknown problem, man down.” They found White dead from multiple gunshot wounds near the Greensboro Islamic Cemetery. The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office has continued to describe the death as an active and ongoing homicide investigation, and detectives said anyone with information should contact Detective J.M. Allen at (336) 641-2799 or Guilford County Crime Stoppers at (336) 373-1000. ([wfmynews2.com](wfmynews2.com/article/news/crime/guilford-county-sheriffs-office-identifies-victim-unsolved-2024-mcleansville-murder/83-5218bb54-2c20-46e3-aa51-f54c26165538))

Gray said White loved family, friends and basketball, and said her daughter looks exactly like her late son, a daily reminder of what was taken from the family. She described him as loving, strong-willed and full of potential, and said she still remembers asking him to come get picked up before she never heard from him again. Her public comments centered on justice and on the possibility that someone with knowledge of the shooting may still come forward. ([myfox8.com](myfox8.com/news/triad-mother-speaks-out-after-son-shot-killed-god-is-going-to-make-them-answer-for-what-they-did/))

The killing also fits into a broader violence burden in Guilford County. County public health data show 49 homicide deaths in 2022, a homicide rate of 9.0 per 100,000 residents, and the county violence profile says 81% of homicides over the past decade involved a firearm. That same profile says 293 Guilford County residents visited emergency departments for firearm injury in 2024, underscoring how one unsolved teen killing in McLeansville sits inside a larger public health crisis that keeps showing up in homes, hospitals and cold case files. ([guilfordcountync.gov](guilfordcountync.gov/2024-leading-causes-death-data-brief/open))