Rekia Boyd was 22 when she was shot and killed on March 21, 2012, in Douglass Park on Chicago’s West Side. An off-duty detective, Dante Servin, drove to the park after making a noise complaint, approached a group that included Boyd and engaged in a verbal altercation. Servin fired his weapon, fatally striking Boyd in the head and wounding Antonio Cross in the hand. Police initially said Cross had approached with a gun, but Cross was later found to have been holding a cell phone.

Boyd’s family sued the city on April 5, 2012; the suit was settled in March 2013 for $4.5 million. In November 2013 Servin was charged with involuntary manslaughter and later requested a bench trial. On April 20, 2015, Judge Dennis J. Porter entered a directed verdict clearing Servin of all charges, ruling that an intentional shooting could not be reduced to recklessness and that double jeopardy barred a later murder charge. The shooting prompted protests and became a noted moment in discussions about police killings of Black women and girls.

Did anyone who knew Rekia or who was in Douglass Park that night see something that could still help explain what happened?