Seventeen-year-old James Anthony Smith, a Ballou High School student, was shot and killed on a basketball court at the Frederick Douglass Community Center in Southeast Washington on December 18, 2017. Police responded to reports of a shooting and found Smith unconscious with multiple gunshot wounds; he was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. His red Nike Air Jordan sneakers, an early Christmas gift from his mother, were reported missing and the incident was believed to have begun as a robbery over the shoes.

Months later, in March 2018, police arrested a 16-year-old male from Southeast D.C. and charged him with felony murder in connection with Smith’s death. At a two-week trial in the summer of 2018 prosecutors presented three teenage witnesses who said they saw the defendant confront Smith, demand his shoes, and then chase him; they heard shots and later saw the suspect with the stolen sneakers. The defense challenged their credibility. A judge found the defendant guilty of second-degree murder, robbery, and other offenses.

Did anyone who knew James or who was at the community center that night see something that could add detail to what happened?