On August 31, 1998, at about 8:20 p.m., officers responded to a shooting at Deep Dell and Paradise Valley Road and found 16-year-old Lawrence Smith dead in the middle of the street at 7700 Paradise Valley Road. Witnesses said a man with a gun chased Smith out of the Meadowbrook Apartments on the north side of 7800 Paradise Valley Road, caught up with him and shot him three or four times. After falling into the street he was struck by a passing vehicle; that driver stopped, attempted to render aid and gave a statement to police.

Witnesses described the shooter as a black male about 17 to 20 years old wearing dark clothing; he ran southbound on Deep Dell then eastbound on Prairie Mound Way. Smith had reportedly rehabilitated himself after earlier brushes with the law, was working and attending school, and his loved ones said he was looking forward to a bright future.

Did anyone in the area that evening see the suspect’s flight path or have information about what led to the confrontation?