Zernell Lee was 19 when he was killed during a daylight ambush while working with Groundwork New Orleans on a permeable-paver project at New Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church on Annunciation Street. The shooting happened on Wednesday, October 6, 2021, when gunmen in a gray Ford F-150 opened fire on the crew. The attack wounded multiple people and killed Lee and 25-year-old co-worker Derrick Copelin. Several victims were reportedly armed with semi-automatic weapons during the ambush.

Police investigators later focused on 22-year-old Nairobi Davis and charged him with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder, alleging the shooting grew out of a feud between rival groups from Algiers and the 10th Ward. Davis was said to have arrived at a West Bank hospital with a gunshot wound soon after the attack. Prosecutors dropped all charges in March of the following year after defense evidence, including phone records, challenged the timeline and undermined the case.

The murder of Zernell Lee remains unsolved. If anyone was at the work site that day or has information about the gray Ford F-150 or the attack, please share what is known.