On June 3, 2023, at about 12:50 a.m., 26-year-old Quran Wesley Sims was fatally shot in his first-floor apartment in the 2900 block of French Street in Erie, Pennsylvania. Responding officers found him with multiple gunshot wounds and he was pronounced dead at the scene; the Erie County Coroner ruled the death a homicide.

Investigators arrested 24-year-old Erie resident Robert A. Esquilin-Ortiz and charged him with criminal homicide, aggravated assault and multiple felony counts for discharging a firearm into an occupied structure. Evidence presented by authorities indicated 11 shots were fired through Sims’ open bedroom window and ballistic testing matched shell casings to a 9mm handgun owned by Esquilin-Ortiz. Reports from the investigation suggested a possible motive involving communications between Sims and Esquilin-Ortiz’s wife, and noted earlier tensions between Sims and Esquilin-Ortiz, including a refusal of a ride and other confrontations.

Family and community members held a Take Back the Site vigil at the location of the shooting. Sims was remembered as family-centered, a 2015 Strong Vincent High School graduate who played basketball and football, attended Edinboro University and worked as staff support at Perseus House. Does anyone have information about the night of June 3, 2023, or knew Quran Sims and can share details that might help the case?