Elijah Di’zeke Chubby Jackson was 16 when he was shot and killed at an outdoor party in Erie, Pennsylvania, on July 24, 2015. The gathering followed an all-star high school football game and was attended by many local teenagers; gunfire erupted and Elijah was found fatally wounded. Another 16-year-old, Shakur Franklin, also died that night in a separate but coinciding drive-by shooting.

Elijah was due to be a junior at East High School and played with the Erie Crossover Basketball team and in the Spoons League. Described as the life of the party, he was remembered by family and friends as loyal, honest, and respectable. An investigation led to the arrest and conviction of Darion Eady for Elijah’s murder, with a prison sentence of 23 to 47 years, but in May 2018 a three-judge Superior Court panel unanimously overturned the murder, reckless endangerment, and weapons convictions for insufficient evidence; a firearms conviction was left in place and Eady could not be retried for the homicide.

Elijah’s mother, Vanessa Belen, has said Elijah knew the people responsible and that he likely was not the intended target.