On the morning of April 22, 2015, 18-year-old William Chapman II was shot and killed in a Walmart parking lot in Portsmouth, Virginia, during a confrontation with Portsmouth Police Officer Stephen Rankin. Police had responded after store security reported a suspected shoplifter leaving the store. Accounts differ about the moments before the shooting: prosecutors said non-lethal force could have been used, while the defense said a stun gun failed to subdue Chapman. An autopsy showed Chapman was shot in the face and chest from a distance and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Rankin was indicted on first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and he was later fired from the department. A jury of eight Black and four white jurors convicted Rankin of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter on August 4, 2016, and recommended a sentence of two and a half years, which the judge upheld. The city later agreed to a $1 million settlement with Chapman’s family.

If anyone witnessed the parking lot encounter or has information about what happened that morning, please share what is known.