On September 26, 2019, 18-year-old Bryson Andrew Mitchell was found in a car that had crashed into the front porch of a home in Chesterfield, Virginia. He had sustained a gunshot wound and was taken to a local hospital, where he died. The vehicle was later determined to have been stolen.

Bryson was a student at Matoaca High School and remembered by family as goofy, fun-loving, charismatic, and protective of friends and family. In August 2020, Chesterfield police arrested two people: 20-year-old Demetrius Roots Jr. was charged with first-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and shooting into an occupied vehicle; 21-year-old Samira Tarabay-Whitfield was charged with being an accessory after the fact and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors alleged Bryson had stolen Whitfield’s car and that the couple chased him, ending when Roots shot him.

A jury in April 2021 found Roots guilty of second-degree murder and related charges and recommended a 25-year sentence. The presiding judge, David E. Johnson, set aside the jury’s verdict, concluding the evidence did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Roots fired the fatal shot; Roots was therefore acquitted and could not be retried, and the case against Tarabay-Whitfield did not proceed.

Did anyone who knew Bryson or witnessed the chase come forward with details that could clarify who fired the fatal shot?