On March 11, 2022, 16-year-old Terrion Smith was fatally shot in the lobby of the Ely Walker lofts on Washington Avenue in St. Louis. The shooting occurred about 11:20 p.m.; officers found Smith with multiple gunshot wounds just inside the building’s front door and emergency medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene. Another man sustained an ankle wound during the incident.

Smith, a sophomore at Sumner High School, had been helping let people into a large birthday party being held in one of the rented units. The investigation identified 21-year-old John Whitney Jr., of Bridgeton. Whitney later told authorities he had been selling drugs outside the building and said Smith drew a gun first; surveillance footage, however, shows both men drawing at roughly the same time and captures Whitney firing a fully automatic pistol as Smith turned with a pistol raised. A subsequent search of Whitney’s apartment turned up drugs and multiple firearms, including a Glock fitted with a conversion device that made it fully automatic and several rifles.

Is there anyone who was at that party or who knew Terrion who can shed light on what happened in the lobby that night?