On the night of March 4, 2017, gunfire erupted at the intersection of SE 23rd Street and SE Belleview Avenue in Topeka. Two vehicles were struck; a gold Ford Focus carrying 18-year-old Kianna Hodge arrived at a nearby Reser’s Fine Foods with fatal wounds. Three occupants of a Chevy Traverse and another person were also wounded, bringing the total injured to five. Investigators recovered 53 shell casings, all 7.62 caliber, and say the shots were fired by a person on foot into passing vehicles.

Kianna Hodge is remembered in reports as vibrant and beautiful, who loved to sing and dance and hoped to attend cosmetology school. A cold-case review produced new leads in 2020 that identified Javon Amond Smith as a suspect; he was arrested in October 2020 and later faced murder and related weapons charges. Does anyone remember that March night or have information about activity near SE 23rd and SE Belleview Avenue?