On the evening of August 18, 2017, 34-year-old Curtis Richardson was sitting on a railing outside the Essex Food Store on High Street in Portsmouth, Virginia, when a gold Volkswagen Passat with at least two people inside pulled up. The driver, later identified as Stanlee Jones, got out, leaned back into the car briefly, then walked toward Richardson and raised a gun. Surveillance footage shows Jones aiming the firearm; Richardson tried to flee but collapsed a few steps away and was later pronounced dead.

Authorities identified Stanlee S. Jones as the primary suspect. He was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Newark, New Jersey, on August 31, 2017, extradited to Portsmouth on September 15, and charged with first-degree murder and two firearm offenses. The prosecution relied heavily on the surveillance video. Jones’s defense did not dispute that he fired the weapon but argued the shooting was self-defense, alleging Richardson had shot Jones during an attempted robbery eleven months earlier. The judge ruled that self-defense could only be presented if it was shown Richardson posed an immediate threat that day.

Does anyone have information about Richardson’s activities near the Essex Food Store that evening or about interactions between Richardson and Jones in the months before the shooting?