On the morning of May 10, 2014, 22-year-old Derrick Lee Merritt Jr. was shot after leaving Bootleggers nightclub on Commerce Road in Athens, Georgia. A dispute in a nearby vacant parking lot escalated into gunfire from a passing car; Merritt, who was not involved in the altercation, was struck and died at a local hospital. Another innocent bystander, Jamaris Walter, was seriously wounded but survived.

Athens-Clarke County police identified 33-year-old Corey Antwan Blount of Atlanta as the suspected shooter. Blount was arrested July 9, 2014, and later tried in October 2015. Witnesses said Blount fired from the passenger side of a moving vehicle after his girlfriend had been involved in the earlier fight. The jury found Blount guilty on all charges related to Merritt’s death and the assault on Walter.

If anyone was at Bootleggers or the Commerce Road area that night and has information about the shooting, please come forward.