On the late afternoon of October 19, 2023, gunfire erupted in the parking lot of a Quality Inn on Lincoln Way West in South Bend. Two young men, 20-year-old Amarion Kirk and 22-year-old Jasani Taylor, were found unresponsive in a vehicle with fatal gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead at the scene. Kirk attended Clay High School and was known for basketball, art, and making music.

Surveillance footage showed a vehicle carrying the victims pull into the lot and park near a Chevrolet Trax. A man exited the Trax armed with a rifle-type firearm and fired multiple times into the driver’s side of the victims’ car before fleeing on foot. A third person who had been in the victims’ vehicle was located and questioned by detectives.

Investigators identified 26-year-old Reontre Lawrence as a suspect after finding his cell phone in an abandoned vehicle at the hotel and tracking surveillance footage of a man running toward Beacon Heights Apartments, where Lawrence lived; clothing matching the shooter was recovered in his apartment and a warrant was issued. Lawrence was arrested October 31, 2023, in Indianapolis and returned to South Bend to face charges. Anyone with information about Amarion Kirk, his last movements, or the shooting is asked to come forward.