Marsalis Holman was 20 when he was fatally shot in the head on January 4, 2015, in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. The shooting occurred inside a home on South Kolin Avenue while Marsalis and a longtime friend, 27-year-old James Gonnigan, were reportedly playing in the kitchen. Witnesses heard talking and laughter before a single gunshot; Marsalis was found in a pool of blood and later pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Police detained Gonnigan in the living room and recovered five .38-caliber bullets. He told investigators he had pointed the gun at Marsalis’s head and accidentally fired. Gonnigan was charged with involuntary manslaughter, pleaded guilty to one felony count, and in September 2016 was given a six-month jail term with credit for 681 days already served, plus 30 months probation and an order to avoid contact with Marsalis’s family. Marsalis’s sister, Antionette Aris, expressed forgiveness and called for peace.

The case draws attention to persistent gun violence in Lawndale; Gonnigan’s brother Leon had been shot and killed outside the same family home in 2009. Does anyone have memories of Marsalis or information about that household and the community around South Kolin Avenue?