On the night of May 18, 2019, Royal Abram, an 18-year-old Black male, was seated in a car with friends in the parking lot of the Iowa Smoke Shop in Cedar Rapids when a man approached and opened fire. Abram and 18-year-old Matrell Johnson were killed by gunshot wounds; two other occupants, Booker McKinney and Kayla Panos-Blackcloud, were critically injured but survived.

Surveillance footage from the smoke shop showed a shooter exiting a vehicle, firing a handgun into the teenagers’ car, then fleeing. Investigators identified 26-year-old Andre Richardson as the primary suspect and located him in June 2019; 24-year-old Alexandra Lanee Nicole Smith was identified as the driver of the getaway vehicle and was also arrested. Richardson later said he had acted on a mistaken belief after seeing a Facebook post and fired into the car without knowing who was inside.

If anyone knew Royal, Matrell, or was in the area that night, please share any information that might help fill gaps in the timeline or bring further clarity to what happened.