On the evening of May 5, 2015, 27-year-old Courtney Yates was an innocent bystander killed in a drive-by shooting at the corner of Lark Street and Sheridan Avenue in Albany, New York. He was struck in the head when a gunman fired into a crowd; two other people were wounded and survived. The shooting was retaliatory, aimed at people linked to the April killing of Latwan Hankins, and Yates had no involvement in that earlier incident.

Authorities identified the shooter as 16-year-old Jaushi’ir Weaver, who fired multiple rounds into the crowd. Two accomplices named in the case were Mark Bowman, who investigators say also fired a weapon, and Rashad Quintyne, who served as the getaway driver. The family of Yates, including his fiancée and mother, spoke about the profound grief caused by his senseless death.