Lawrence Sykes, a 57-year-old Black man from Huntington, West Virginia, was fatally shot inside an apartment in the Marcum Terrace housing complex on the afternoon of February 4, 2016. Huntington police responded to the 1300 block of Marcum Terrace at about 3:20 p.m. after reports of gunfire and found Sykes with multiple gunshot wounds; he was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center and pronounced dead later that day.

Investigators quickly focused on Detroit man Brandon Lamar McCauley, known as Louie, alleging he fired several rounds at Sykes. A murder warrant was issued and McCauley was believed to have fled back to Michigan, remaining wanted until his arrest by U.S. Marshals on February 1, 2017. Authorities also arrested Ericka Miller of Huntington and later identified Tyson Davis of Akron in related incidents; Miller was charged as an accessory before the fact and Davis faced a malicious wounding warrant tied to an assault earlier that day.

McCauley was returned to West Virginia, indicted, and tried; a jury in September 2018 was unable to reach a unanimous verdict and the judge declared a hung jury. On January 16, 2019, McCauley pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Was anyone in the Marcum Terrace complex that afternoon able to help investigators piece together what led up to the shooting?