On the afternoon of August 21, 2023, 24-year-old Abdolaye Ba was standing outside the Best Food Mini Market on Blake Avenue in East New York when he was struck in the face by a gunshot at about 3:25 p.m. He was taken to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center and died three days later from his injuries.

Police initially treated the shooting as gang-related even though Ba was not known to be a gang member. A 15-year-old was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon days after Ba’s death; the youth’s name was not released because of his age. A later 68-count indictment charged nine alleged members of the Road 2 Riches crew, ages 15 to 20, with numerous violent offenses including the murder of Ba, alleging a pattern of shootings and that the suspects boasted about the killing on social media. The indictment includes second-degree murder, conspiracy, and reckless endangerment counts.

Did anyone in the neighborhood see or hear anything that afternoon or know more about Ba’s movements that day?