Anthony Allan Gant Jr., a 23-year-old Black man who grew up in Springfield and graduated from Southeast High School in 2005, was shot on the porch of his home in the 1900 block of South Wirt Avenue in the predawn hours of Sunday, August 7, 2011, around 5 a.m. Witnesses and community posts describe a figure stepping out from between two houses across the street and opening fire, with nine or more shots fired. Gant was struck in the head, taken to St. John’s Hospital, and pronounced dead there at 6:27 p.m. on Tuesday, August 9, 2011; his obituary fixed his age at 23 and his date of death as August 9.

Investigators searched for leads but the case cooled. Databases of unsolved homicides in Illinois list his 2011 killing among Springfield’s open cases. As of the most recent public references, there have been no arrests and authorities have not publicly identified a suspect.

If anyone knew Anthony, was in that neighborhood that morning, or has information about who might have stepped from between those houses, contact the Springfield authorities who handle cold homicide tips.