The call came in just as Saturday evening was settling over Longview. By 7 p.m., the calm was shattered by gunfire on the 100 block of West Highland Avenue. For 32-year-old Byrondrick Davis, it was the last moments of a life that friends describe as full of potential, abruptly ended by violence that has left a family shattered and a community asking familiar, painful questions.
Police arrived to find Davis suffering from gunshot wounds. Despite first responders rushing him to a local hospital, he could not be saved. He was pronounced dead, transforming a city street into a crime scene and marking the start of another grim investigation for the Longview Police Department. As of now, detectives are scouring for leads, having released no details about a suspect or a possible motive.
The news traveled fast through Davis’s circle, sparking waves of disbelief and grief. “He was a good person, a loving family man,” one friend shared, struggling to put the loss into words. The suddenness of the tragedy is what stings the most for many—the ordinary Saturday night that turned into a permanent nightmare for those who knew and loved him.
Longview police are now pleading with the public. They are asking anyone who was in the West Highland area around 7 p.m. on December 27th, or who might have heard or seen anything unusual, to speak up. “Any piece of information, no matter how small it may seem, could be critical to this investigation,” a department spokesperson stated, emphasizing the need for community cooperation to piece together the events that led to Davis’s death.
Tips can be directed to the Longview Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division at 903-237-1199. For those who wish to remain anonymous, Crime Stoppers is taking information at 903-236-7867. Authorities assure that anonymity is guaranteed, hoping it will encourage someone with knowledge to come forward and help provide a measure of justice for Davis’s family.
In the meantime, the mourning is palpable. There is no official vigil announced yet, but informal gatherings of friends and family are holding space for their grief. They remember Davis not for how he died, but for how he lived—as a son, a friend, a vital part of the fabric of their lives, now gone far too soon.
As detectives continue their work, the city is left with a familiar hollow feeling. Another name, another story cut short. For Byrondrick Davis’s loved ones, the quest for answers is just beginning, and the long road toward healing seems impossibly far away. Their only request, echoed by police, is for anyone who knows something to do the right thing.
