On the evening of November 16, 2017, 28-year-old Malachi Mims of Cambridge was shot in the abdomen and later died at a hospital. Officers found him in the middle of Tremont Street near Hampshire Street after a report of a shooting at about 7:30 p.m.

Investigators say the shooting occurred during a drug deal that turned into a robbery. Mims had arranged to sell marijuana and was driven to the meeting with another person when two men tried to rob them at gunpoint. Surveillance video showed two men fleeing—one in a black jacket and one in a teal jacket. Police later identified two teenage suspects from Cambridge. On December 31, 2017, 17-year-old Kevin Reddick was arrested in Boston; jackets matching the video were recovered and tested positive for gunshot residue, and a fingerprint in Mims’s car matched Reddick. Forensic testing of the teal jacket linked 17-year-old Osiris Chambers to the scene; Chambers was already in custody on an unrelated matter.

Both teenagers were charged with murder, armed assault with intent to rob, and firearms offenses; Chambers was arraigned in December 2018. Did anyone in Cambridge remember seeing the two men or those jackets on November 16, 2017?