A graduation party in Destrehan, Louisiana, on the night of Saturday into Sunday, May 24, 1998, ended in fatal violence. Seventeen-year-old Cleophus Greene III was at a chaperoned gathering on Meadows Drive with about 100 students when a group of uninvited young men tried to force their way in. Greene stepped in to keep them out; gunfire broke out and he was struck. He was later pronounced dead at St. Charles Parish Hospital in Luling. A 16-year-old, Dwayne Washington, was also wounded but survived.

St. Charles Sheriff’s deputies responded to numerous 911 calls and, based on eyewitness accounts, made multiple arrests the same day. Eighteen-year-old Travis Sumlin of New Sarpy was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Twenty-year-old Dedrick Brown of Norco was charged with attempted murder and illegal discharge of a firearm. Two more suspects from New Sarpy — 21-year-old Randell Jenkins and a 15-year-old male — were each charged with attempted murder and illegal discharge of a firearm. A fifth person, Carlos Heard, was later identified and charged with murder in connection with Greene’s death.

Family members described Greene as someone who would do anything for anybody. Who in the Destrehan area that night might have seen what happened or knows more about the arrivals that led to the shooting?