Shakanah China was 13 when she was shot and killed on May 10, 2011, in Durham, North Carolina. She was playing outside a home at 7 Atka Court when someone in a passing van fired several shots; she was struck in the stomach and died at Duke University Hospital. Shakanah was a seventh-grader at Lakeview School in Durham.

About a year after the shooting two men, Levette Lipscomb and Brandon Townsend, were arrested. Lipscomb was initially charged with first-degree murder, later pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, and received a three- to five-year sentence with credit for roughly three and a half years already served. Charges against Townsend were dropped after delays in delivering DNA evidence led to a finding that his right to a speedy trial had been violated and his case was dismissed. The prosecutions had relied on a confidential informant who said Townsend was seen getting into and later returning in a van; no eyewitnesses placed Townsend at the scene and DNA taken from the van was never tested.

Shakanah’s mother, Demetriss China, and grandmother, Diane Billings, said the family felt justice was not fully served. Did anyone who lived near 7 Atka Court in 2011 see or hear anything that could still be helpful?