William Aikens was an 18-year-old Black male from Chicago who was shot and killed on the afternoon of October 16, 2013, in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side. Around 3:20 p.m., gunfire erupted outside a home in the 10500 block of South Lafayette Avenue where 22-year-old Martellis Griffis was standing with Aikens. Griffis died at the scene; Aikens fled east toward a vacant lot in the 10500 block of South Perry Street, where he collapsed and died.

Initial reports described the attack as gang-related and placed both victims outside Griffis’s residence when the shots were fired. Authorities later identified Aikens as living on the 1700 block of North Lotus. In early August 2015, police arrested 22-year-old Rickey Winfield of East Chicago, Indiana; a warrant had been issued in May 2015 and he was held on $1 million bond after being charged with murder in the double homicide.

Anyone who knew Aikens, Griffis, or who has information about the events on October 16, 2013, in Roseland is asked to come forward.