On the night of December 30, 2022, 16-year-old Ayden Jerald Hendricks, a Black/African American student at Arkadelphia High School, was shot and killed in the parking lot of Lark Place Apartments in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Hendricks and a 24-year-old associate, Quartez Dada Burton, had been implicated in an armed robbery at the complex earlier that evening. As the two were leaving, both were shot; Hendricks died at the scene and Burton was taken to Baptist Health Medical Center-Arkadelphia.

A neighbor, 19-year-old Chase Langstaff, who lived upstairs at the complex, later admitted to firing five shots that all struck the victims. Langstaff said he acted in self-defense and believed the pair posed a threat, claiming Burton had pointed a gun at his head. Prosecutors noted both victims were shot in the back as they fled and that no physical evidence was found indicating they were armed.

Several others were arrested in connection with the alleged robbery, including 18-year-old Javion Lameer Sims, 17-year-old Joffrey King-Lewis Kaden, and another juvenile, facing aggravated robbery and aggravated residential burglary charges; Langstaff’s mother, Laroyce Browning, was arrested on hindering apprehension charges. Ayden was remembered at a memorial service by family and friends. Does anyone have information about Ayden, his activities that night, or the people involved?