Akeelah Addison, 22, was shot and killed in the predawn hours of July 5, 2019, on the 4200 block of South Wells Street in Chicago’s Fuller Park. Police said she was dancing in the street around 2:55 to 3:00 a.m. among many people still celebrating the July 4th holiday when a male produced a handgun and opened fire. She was struck in the head and pronounced dead at the scene; the medical examiner ruled her death a homicide.

Family described Akeelah as loving and ambitious. Relatives said she had returned to Chicago from Peoria with plans to open a salon, and her mother recalled a tender exchange in the days before the shooting. The family planned a joint service for Akeelah and her niece Felon Smith at New Nazareth Missionary Baptist Church on July 12. Detectives opened a homicide investigation and said they were searching for a male suspect; no arrest was announced in the initial reporting.

Does anyone have information about Akeelah, the celebration that night, or the events on South Wells Street around 3 a.m. on July 5, 2019?