A Memorial Day cookout in Syracuse turned deadly on the evening of May 29, 2023. Demond Jones, a 44-year-old Black man, was among friends and family gathered in the 400 block of Bellevue Avenue when a car drove by and gunfire erupted at about 9:47 p.m. Four people were shot.

Jones suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was taken to Upstate University Hospital in critical condition, where he later died. Three other victims — a 34-year-old man, a 42-year-old woman, and another 44-year-old man — were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Syracuse police identified 31-year-old Jauqwell Flagg as the primary suspect and arrested him at his Edgeware Road residence on June 26, 2023, charging him with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree in connection with the shooting.

If anyone at the cookout or nearby that night has information about what happened, please come forward.