Omari Braxton was a 21-year-old Black man from Rock Island, Illinois, who was shot and killed on the afternoon of Saturday, May 11, 2024. At 4:43 p.m. police responded to the Maple Ridge apartments in the 3700 block of 5th Street and found Braxton in the parking lot; he was taken by ambulance to a local hospital and later died. The county coroner confirmed the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.

Investigators from the Rock Island Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division identified a suspect the same night and obtained a first-degree murder warrant for 29-year-old Derrick B. Nephew Jr. In the early hours of Sunday, May 12, Nephew Jr. was arrested by the Davenport Police Department in Davenport, Iowa, at 2:40 a.m. Another man, 29-year-old Steven Strickland of Davenport, was arrested that morning and charged with accessory after the fact and harassment of a public official or employee; police say he knowingly assisted Nephew Jr. in evading capture after the shooting, including fleeing the scene, crossing state lines into Iowa, and obtaining a hotel room for him.

What information do readers have about Omari Braxton’s movements or anyone who witnessed the shooting at the Maple Ridge apartments?