Winston Thomas, a 47-year-old Black man, was fatally shot on the morning of December 17, 2014, outside his home on Hunt Avenue on Charleston’s West Side. The shooting occurred about 10:20 a.m. near Hunt and Central avenues; witnesses described a rapid series of shots and police said Thomas suffered multiple gunshot wounds and collapsed on his porch, dying there. The nearby Mary C. Snow Elementary School and Stonewall Jackson Middle School were briefly placed on lockdown while officers searched for the shooter.

Investigators say the violence grew out of a confrontation tied to a marijuana transaction. Prosecutors alleged a man known as Gypsy — identified in reports as Steven Gypsy John and later as Ricky Steve Gypsy John — and others went to Thomas’ residence, where an altercation began that moved outside and escalated into gunfire. Authorities arrested John on December 18; he was initially charged with murder and later convicted of voluntary manslaughter on July 21, 2016. Tommissina Brooks was initially charged in the killing but her murder charge was dismissed after she agreed to cooperate and she pleaded guilty to a drug conspiracy count.

Did anyone in Charleston see activity around Hunt and Central avenues on December 17, 2014, or have information about the transaction that led to this shooting?