Anthony Williams, a 19-year-old Black man, was shot and killed during an early-morning gathering on October 29, 2022, at a home on Sioux City’s west side. The gathering at 1421 West Fifth Street included relatives and friends, music, drinking and several firearms. A fight in the kitchen between Joseph Nathan Cruz and 21-year-old Carlos Ray Aguirre escalated into a struggle over a Shadow Systems pistol; multiple shots were fired and both Aguirre and Williams were struck. Williams died of a gunshot wound to the chest; the medical examiner classified his death as a homicide.

Investigators tied cartridge casings at the scene to a Shadow Systems pistol recovered from Cruz’s vehicle, and officers found bloody clothing and other firearms in the car. Cruz was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, among other charges, and later convicted for Aguirre’s death but acquitted of the murder charge related to Williams. That acquittal left Williams’s killing without a criminal conviction despite the scene evidence and testimony describing Cruz gaining control of the gun and firing multiple rounds.

Did anyone at the gathering or nearby see what happened during the struggle in the kitchen?