Wardell Smith was 17 and a junior at Eastern High School when he was shot multiple times and killed in Northeast Washington, D.C., on the night of Wednesday, March 3, 2004. The shooting occurred at about 10:40 pm in the 3000 block of 25th Street NE; more than 10 shell casings were recovered near his body and he died at the scene. Smith was a father to a 4-month-old son and had been on the phone with his girlfriend, Chiquita Walton, about half an hour before he was killed.

Family members said Wardell had been threatened at gunpoint by rivals from a neighboring area earlier the same day. In the months before his death he had also been attacked by a group of youths, suffering a broken jaw and a punctured lung. His mother, Mary Smith, described him as the youngest of eight, stubborn and drawn to the streets, while friends and family remembered his sense of humor and playful side.

The Metropolitan Police Department had made no arrests in the initial reports and asked the public for help. Does anyone who knew Wardell or who lived in that block in March 2004 have information that could help the investigation?