On the evening of May 24, 2017, Earl Joseph Thompson IV, 44, was shot to death in the front yard of a residence near Northwest 122nd Street and County Line Road in Oklahoma City. Officers found Thompson with a fatal gunshot wound around 6 p.m.; his death was recorded as the city’s 34th homicide of the year.

Police quickly focused the investigation on a nearby home where they took a man into custody for questioning. That individual was later identified, arrested, and booked into the Oklahoma County Jail on a complaint of first-degree murder. Authorities say Thompson and the suspect were known to each other and that the shooting stemmed from an ongoing dispute rather than a random act.

Anyone with information about Earl Joseph Thompson IV, his movements that evening, or the dispute that led to the shooting is asked to come forward.