On the evening of December 29, 2014, 16-year-old Jessie Elbert Taylor Jr. was shot in the back on Beaumont Street in Natchez. A Natchez Police Department officer who found him around 9:00 p.m. reported Taylor was briefly conscious and said two males had robbed and shot at him, demanding he empty his pockets. Taylor lost consciousness and later died; an autopsy ruled his death a homicide from multiple gunshot wounds.

Witnesses at the scene identified eighteen-year-old Eddie Minor and Emanuel Little Carl Latham as involved. Testimony described an attempted robbery that escalated: Minor allegedly produced a gun, demanded Taylor’s belongings, and, after a struggle when Taylor tried to flee, shots were fired. Latham testified against Minor and both were arrested in connection with the killing.

Eddie Minor was convicted of armed robbery for his role and received a 35-year sentence in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections; the conviction and sentence were later affirmed on appeal. Did anyone in Natchez at the time have information about that night or remember seeing Taylor on Beaumont Street?