Algernon Cross, a 40-year-old Black man, was killed on the evening of February 12, 2016, after a brief stop along Bell Road in the Priest Lake area of Antioch. He was riding with a female relative and asked her to pull into a parking lot in the 400 block of Bell Road after spotting someone he recognized. Officers found him on the ground beside his vehicle, already dead from a gunshot to the head.

Police said the stop was part of a planned marijuana purchase. Investigators reported Cross got out of the car and spoke with people connected to a pickup truck; police later identified those two as Latasha Starks and Jerome Sawyers. Authorities accused Sawyers of moving through the scene after the shooting, going through Cross’ pockets, walking to a creek and throwing something into the water; he was charged with evidence tampering and reported to have posted a $30,000 bond. Starks and Sawyers were later indicted on first-degree murder charges, and Sawyers was said to be in federal custody in Arkansas.

Cross’s obituary named him Algernon Joe R. Cross and listed survivors including his wife, Machelle Wynn Cross, children and a granddaughter, and gave details of Nashville-area services and burial. Does anyone have information about that Bell Road parking lot or who was present that night?