On the night of August 1, 2019, 15-year-old Erek Lamarr Wright Jr. was found with fatal gunshot wounds at the Heritage Forest Apartment Complex in Newport News, Virginia. He was pronounced dead at the scene. An 18-year-old, Tyree Spady, was also shot and later died at a local hospital. The shootings were the city’s first double homicide of 2019.

Erek, known to friends and family as Lil Man or Big E, was a multi-sport athlete at Heritage High School who enjoyed football, baseball, basketball and gaming; he had been playing organized sports since age seven. The investigation led police to two juvenile suspects. Nearly a month after the killings, two teenagers were arrested and charged with offenses that included second-degree murder, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Their identities were initially withheld because of their ages.

One of the accused was identified as Amareon Eley, 15 at the time; he told investigators he was present and implicated another teenager, Anthony Santiago, as the shooter, saying the plan was to rob Wright and Spady of a firearm. Eley was charged in connection with the deaths and his case later experienced a mistrial due to a juror issue before a new trial began.