Tymel McKinney was an 18-year-old Black male shot to death on April 23, 2014, while sitting on the front porch of his Sixth Street home on Charleston’s West Side. He was reportedly eating pizza with a friend when multiple gunshots struck him late in the evening. Police treated the killing as connected to escalating gang-related violence and described it as a retaliation killing or gang-ordered hit tied to people with links to Detroit.

Three people were identified as participants: Darrell Emmett D.J. Carter, accused of firing the shots; Mark Gaddy of Detroit, said to have been armed and to have pointed a gun at McKinney; and Naquil Sayles, who drove the getaway vehicle. Sayles pleaded guilty to accessory after the murder and fleeing and agreed to testify against the others. Carter was arrested on a first-degree murder charge; Gaddy faced murder charges and later pleaded to second-degree murder. McKinney’s mother, Deanna McKinney, became active in anti-violence efforts and organized community events near the porch where he was killed.

Does anyone have memories of the West Side neighborhood or information about Tymel’s life that could help keep his story alive?