On the night of September 29, 2019, 19-year-old Tahlil Byrd of Washington, D.C., was found on the 600 block of S Street Northwest suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead. Authorities tied the shooting to a neighborhood rivalry between the 3500 Street Group and the 9th Street Group that had reportedly grown out of a rap beef.

The Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch identified a suspect and on November 18, 2019 arrested 19-year-old Adrian Vinson, charging him with First Degree Murder while Armed. Court testimony described Vinson firing from across the street while Byrd returned fire almost simultaneously before being struck and collapsing. A witness said Vinson and Byrd had been friends and that Vinson was saddened by Byrd’s death.

Adrian Vinson ultimately pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter and in July 2020 was sentenced under the Youth Rehabilitation Act to five years with two years suspended, plus anger management and community service. Does anyone have information about the rivalry between the groups or recall what happened that night on S Street?