Sean D ’YBC Bam’ Williams, 18, was shot multiple times on the night of June 4, 2020, in the 2500 block of Madison Avenue in Granite City, Illinois. Officers arrived about 10:33 p.m.; he was taken to Gateway Regional Medical Center and pronounced dead shortly after 11 p.m. Detectives from the Granite City Police Department were assisted by the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis as they investigated the shooting outside a residence.

Within days investigators identified two local teens as suspects: Deandre J. Richardson, 17, and Nicholas Rickman, 16. Both were charged as adults with first-degree murder and armed robbery and held on $1,000,000 bail. Prosecutors alleged the defendants forcibly took a .40-caliber handgun and marijuana from Williams and that Richardson possessed a stolen .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun. The prosecution’s account said Rickman had lured Williams to the Madison Avenue address to rob him; after the shooting Rickman reportedly turned off his phone for days and shaved his hair while police searched.

Richardson later pleaded guilty to first-degree murder before a jury reached a verdict in Rickman’s trial, and a Madison County jury found Rickman guilty of first-degree murder and armed robbery. Family and officials said the legal outcomes could not fully answer the loss of the young rapper’s life.