On the night of July 17, 2026, 17-year-old E’Lija Tanoy Richardson was found with a gunshot wound in an enclosed stairwell at an apartment complex in the 300 block of River Fern Drive in Garland, Texas. Officers arrived just after 9 p.m.; Richardson was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead. The shooting is being treated as a homicide.

Investigators identified another person who arrived at a local hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound and have been probing a possible connection between that individual and Richardson’s death. The motive has not been established. As of early August 2026 the Garland Police Department was actively investigating and had offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and indictment. No arrests or suspect identifications have been publicly announced.

Did anyone in the Garland area see or hear anything near River Fern Drive that evening, or have information that could help the investigation?