Hanson Dean Smith, 47, of Indianapolis was shot and killed on June 19, 2015 while sitting in his vehicle near 21st Street and Olney on the city’s east side. Police were called for shots fired; a woman found Smith inside the car and an officer who reached him saw he was bleeding. He was alive when officers arrived but died before lifesaving equipment could be brought to him. An autopsy found three gunshot wounds—two to the abdomen and one to the forearm—that caused massive internal bleeding.

The wounds showed no stippling, consistent with shots fired from more than a couple of feet away. Smith was known in the neighborhood as the Phone Guy, someone who bought and resold cell phones and often carried substantial cash, and he reportedly had at least $12,499 with him that evening. Court records describe a plan by Tafari Clay and Eron Bonner to rob the Phone Guy; evidence placed Bonner in the passenger seat and Smith in the driver’s seat, and ballistics tied firearms to both Clay and Bonner. Clay was charged and later convicted; an appellate opinion noted evidence supporting the theory that Clay, positioned outside the car, could have fired the fatal shots.

Did anyone who knew Smith or who was in that neighborhood on June 19, 2015, see anything that could help explain how the encounter turned deadly?