Diyon Barnes, a 24-year-old Chester native, was killed on February 16, 1997, after a confrontation in the city turned violent. Memorial and obituary information describe him as a 1993 graduate of Chester High School and a laborer at Man Power in Media. He was shot once in the chest during an altercation with Damon Fuji Pierce and was taken to Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland, where he died about 45 minutes later.

According to contemporaneous reporting, the fight began after Barnes confronted Pierce, believing Pierce was the mastermind of a robbery against him. Pierce, who was identified as the suspect and was 19 at the time of the court proceedings, pulled out a .22-caliber revolver and shot Barnes. On the day jury selection was to begin, Pierce pleaded guilty to third-degree murder for the fatal shooting. At sentencing, Judge Frank T. Hazel imposed 7 to 17 years for the homicide. Pierce also pleaded guilty to unauthorized use of a vehicle linked to August 1996 and to two counts of possession with intent to deliver from May 1995; those penalties included one year of state probation for the vehicle offense and concurrent terms of 15 to 36 months for each drug count.

Did anyone in Chester at the time know Barnes or have information about the February 1997 confrontation?