Late on Friday, May 20, 2016, Camden’s ShotSpotter system led police to an alley in the Fairview section where 24-year-old James Rhodes of East Orange was found with a gunshot wound. He was taken to Cooper University Hospital and pronounced dead a short time later, recorded as Camden’s 19th homicide of the year.

Detectives later released surveillance video showing Rhodes walking with another man just before the shooting; the footage then shows that man running from the scene alone. Authorities described the person of interest as a Black man wearing a red shirt and dark pants. Subsequent investigative steps included an arrest: 24-year-old Lehjye Waring of Camden was charged with first-degree murder in connection with Rhodes’s death.

Rhodes’s mother, Evie Rhodes, who is an author and film producer, responded to her son’s killing by launching a nationwide initiative addressing violence affecting young African-American men and supporting other mothers bereaved by similar losses.

If anyone has information about James Rhodes or that night in Fairview, please come forward.