Earnest Dunlap, 17, was shot and killed in a crowded hallway at Eau Claire High School in Columbia, South Carolina, on January 24, 1994, as students changed classes. He was struck four times by another student, 19-year-old Floyd Brown, after a confrontation that followed a fight between the two the previous day.

Brown was arrested at his home and reportedly confessed, saying he didn’t know why he did it. At trial the prosecution said Dunlap was unarmed and presented a witness who said Brown shot him in the back. The defense portrayed Brown as afraid of Dunlap, who they described as a bully, and Brown testified that Dunlap had advanced on him as Brown produced a .22-caliber pistol.

After two hours of deliberation the jury acquitted Brown of murder; subsequent federal gun charges were dismissed after the law used in that prosecution was found unconstitutional. Did anyone at Eau Claire High School in 1994 notice tensions between these students before the killing?