Curtis Johnson was 18 and finishing his senior year at Southwind High School when an off-campus gathering on Wednesday, April 22, 2015, turned fatal. He was inside a home in the 4600 block of Chelwood Drive in the Hickory Hill area of Southeast Memphis when a handgun discharged during what police described as friends playing with a gun. The shot struck Curtis; he was taken to the Regional Medical Center and pronounced dead that day.

Witnesses identified 19-year-old Kendrick Patterson as the person who fired the shot. Memphis police said Patterson admitted he had been handling the handgun when it went off. Patterson was charged with reckless homicide and held on $75,000 bond. Curtis’s family described the pair as friends and said they believed the shooting was an accident. Shelton County Schools brought counselors onto campus as the community responded to the loss.

Are there readers who knew Curtis or who were in the Hickory Hill area that afternoon and can share what they remember?