Kijuan Byrd, 29, was shot and killed on June 1, 2012, while sitting in a pickup truck outside Club Lexx, a strip club in Miami. His friend Michael Smathers was critically injured and left paralyzed in the same shooting. The shooter was Lukace Kendle, an armed security guard at the club.

Kendle said he saw Byrd and Smathers rolling marijuana in the truck and felt threatened when the car doors opened; he fired multiple shots that struck Byrd several times, including in the back as Byrd tried to crawl under the truck for cover. Kendle claimed self-defense and represented himself at trial, also arguing that racial bias affected his arrest and prosecution. A jury found Kendle guilty of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder; he was sentenced to life without parole for Byrd’s murder and received an additional 30 years for the attempted murder of Smathers.

The case raised questions about licensing and oversight of armed security guards after it emerged Kendle held prior convictions for DUI and public drunkenness yet worked as an armed guard. Byrd’s family remember him as someone who cherished time with loved ones and loved making people laugh. Does anyone have information about Byrd’s final hours or about the security practices at Club Lexx that night?