Late morning on June 7, 2016, gunfire erupted on a quiet stretch of Bessie Avenue in North Nashville. Kemontanez KD Armstrong, 22, was found wounded outside a home and taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he died. His stepfather, Keon Hawkins, was already dead at the scene. Witnesses said Hawkins and Armstrong had stepped outside when someone in dark clothing opened fire; at least one nearby house was struck and people inside scrambled for cover.

Metro police identified James Lee Simpson as a suspect; officers said he arrived at a hospital about an hour after the shooting with a gunshot wound to his right arm and that ballistics tied him to the scene. Simpson surrendered on June 25, 2016, and prosecution proceeded through indictments that included felony murder and later first-degree premeditated murder counts. A jury acquitted Simpson on charges connected to Hawkins but convicted him of voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault resulting in Armstrong’s death, plus felon-in-possession; the trial court imposed an effective fifteen-year sentence. An appellate decision filed October 31, 2022, later reversed those convictions and ordered a new trial.

Armstrong’s obituary called him KD and listed surviving family; a public viewing and funeral took place at St. John AME Church in mid-June 2016. Did anyone on Bessie Avenue that morning or anyone who knew Armstrong see or hear anything that could help clarify what happened?