In the pre-dawn hours of a Sunday in August 2018, more than 15 gunshots were fired at the Broadmoor Country Club Apartments in Merrillville, Indiana. Police who arrived shortly before 3 a.m. found a car riddled with bullets. Two young men were dead: 16-year-old Rickey J. Nelson, known as Rico, was found on the passenger floorboard; 18-year-old Jamar Hines was found just outside the vehicle. Both were pronounced dead at the scene from gunshot wounds.

Rickey was a Merrillville High School student and member of the thespian troupe. Family and friends remembered him as funny, clever, good-spirited, a homebody who enjoyed time with his family and someone who tried to be a role model for his siblings. No arrests had been announced in the immediate aftermath and investigators were still working the case.