Juan Lopez was 16 when he was shot on Ward Avenue in North Charleston on the night of November 3, 2021. Initial calls to police that night described a possible carjacking and, shortly after, a rollover crash a few blocks away with a badly injured person trapped in a vehicle. Officers later determined the crash was the aftermath of a shooting in or around the car Juan was driving, not a carjacking.

Juan was transported to the Medical University of South Carolina in critical condition. He remained hospitalized for nearly three weeks before the Charleston County Coroner announced on November 19, 2021 that he had died of the gunshot wound. A 17-year-old boy was arrested after the shooting and initially charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature; prosecutors later upgraded the charge to murder after Juan’s death.

Are there witnesses or local residents who remember the night on Ward Avenue and can help fill in what happened?