Ja’Juan Webb was 16 when he was killed while riding a bicycle with friends on Leonard Street NE in Grand Rapids on July 4, 2022. A passing car approached the group and someone in the vehicle called out Ain’t that you, JJ? before multiple gunshots. Webb was struck and died at the scene.

The investigation focused on 17-year-old Brandon Lee Bechtold Jr., who was arrested in another state and returned to Grand Rapids. The Kent County Prosecutor charged him as an adult with open murder, three counts of assault with intent to murder, and two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony. A friend who had been with Webb identified Bechtold at a preliminary hearing.

The trial began in June 2023; the jury convicted Bechtold, then 18, of first-degree murder, three counts of assault with intent to murder, and felony firearm offenses. Did anyone in the Grand Rapids area witness the events on Leonard Street NE that afternoon or know Ja’Juan Webb’s circle of friends?