Junius Pitts

Junius Pitts was a 19-year-old young man from Little Rock whose life mattered to family, friends and neighbors. Although publicly available records about his early years and personal interests are limited, what is clear is that he was known in his community as a young adult beginning to make his way in life.

Junius’s death on the morning around January 31, 2016 (public records from the City of Little Rock list the homicide in their 2016 unsolved homicides series; some contemporaneous reports describe the event as occurring in the early hours of January 31) brought deep sorrow to those who knew him. He was in a vehicle stopped near Asher Avenue and Fair Park Boulevard in Little Rock when gunfire ended his life. A passenger who was with him survived. The Little Rock Police Department later included his name among the city’s 2016 unsolved homicides, and the case remains one for which the family and community have continued to hope for answers.

Because no family-authorized obituary or funeral-home notice matching both the full name and the exact database death date was found in public obituary archives, this remembrance honors Junius with care rather than attempting to reconstruct private details. Even when public records are sparse, it is important to remember that Junius was a person with relationships and a life beyond the brief public record: a young man whose loss was felt by people who loved him and who continue to grieve.

If you have memories of Junius or information that could help the family and investigators, the Little Rock Police Department has asked that anyone with information contact their detectives. This page is intended to return focus to Junius as a person first — not as an unsolved file — and to acknowledge the human cost of a life cut short. May his memory be held with dignity by those who loved him.