Cypress Harris, 33, was shot to death on December 6, 2018, at about 2:45 a.m. in a room at the Presidential Inn motel on Harlem Avenue in Lyons, Illinois. The Cook County medical examiner pronounced him dead less than an hour after the shooting; an autopsy found multiple gunshot wounds and ruled the death a homicide.

According to witnesses and surveillance footage, Harris was in a motel room with friends when an 18-year-old female acquaintance, Oshen Wells, was called to join them. Shortly afterward, 27-year-old Jonathan Yates arrived. Prosecutors say Wells and Yates attempted to rob Harris, a confrontation that turned into a gunfight; Harris was struck multiple times and Yates sustained a graze wound. Surveillance showed Yates and Wells fleeing in a white SUV later traced to Yates. Both were charged with first-degree murder and held without bail.

Harris had moved to Kentucky to escape violence in his hometown but was back in Chicago for a friend’s birthday; friends and family described him as a devoted father trying to build a better life. Does anyone who knew Harris or who was in that area that night have information that could help clarify what happened?