On May 9, 2015, 17-year-old Leon McClennon, a Black/African American student at West High School in Wichita, Kansas, was killed while attending a private birthday party in a basement at 1719 S. Hillside. McClennon was an innocent bystander in a dispute between two men when Grover D. James produced a handgun and fired. A stray bullet struck McClennon in the head; he died at the scene shortly before 3 a.m.

Wichita police identified a person of interest early on and later arrested Grover D. James. At trial James admitted firing two shots but said he did not intend to hit anyone; witnesses and surveillance footage placed him at the scene, showed him entering the basement with McClennon and others, and showed him walking past McClennon after the shooting. A jury found James guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and criminal possession of a firearm. He received a 50 years to life sentence for the murder, with a concurrent 21-month term for the firearm charge.

Did anyone who attended that party or lived near 1719 S. Hillside see something that night that hasn’t been shared publicly?