On the evening of May 16, 2021, a dispute inside Scootie’s One Stop on Walker Avenue in Memphis ended in a fatal shooting that killed 36-year-old Christopher Nettles. According to police reports, the incident began when Nettles allegedly tried to leave the store with unpaid merchandise and the store owner’s son locked the door. Robert Buie, a 53-year-old security guard, confronted Nettles and said he ordered him to get on the ground. Buie told authorities Nettles advanced toward him, and when Nettles was about four to six feet away Buie fired a shot. Nettles was unarmed and died at a hospital about an hour later.

Buie was arrested and later indicted by a Shelby County Grand Jury on second-degree murder, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, and employing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony; Buie had a prior burglary conviction. Nettles’s family filed a civil suit against the store and its owners, alleging recklessness, malice, and gross negligence and asserting the owners should have known Buie’s conviction barred him from carrying a firearm.

Are there witnesses or anyone who remembers what happened inside the store that evening?