On Thursday, January 5, 2023, 21-year-old Black male Jalen A. Williams was shot in the 1200 block of Garden Hills Drive in Champaign just after 5:30 p.m. Officers rendered aid and rushed him to Carle Foundation Hospital, where he was pronounced dead; an autopsy later confirmed multiple gunshot wounds. Investigators canvassed the neighborhood, recovered several shell casings and noted bullet damage to nearby homes while the shooter fled on foot.

Within a week detectives focused on a companion who had been walking with Williams moments before the shooting. On January 11, 2023, police arrested 20-year-old Zaire Herman of Champaign and charged him with murder, saying evidence indicated he opened fire and then ran. The case went to trial in Urbana; after roughly two and a half hours of deliberation on July 25, 2024, a jury acquitted Herman of first-degree murder, with reporting noting the absence of eyewitnesses and limited physical evidence tying him to the shooting. Police said the inquiry would remain active for additional leads.

Does anyone who was in the Garden Hills Drive area that evening have information about the shooting or the people involved?