William Aikens, an 18-year-old Black male, from Chicago, was shot on the afternoon of October 16, 2013, in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side.
Shortly after 3:20 p.m., gunfire erupted outside a home in the 10500 block of South Lafayette Avenue, where 22-year-old Martellis Griffis was standing with the 18-year-old.
Griffis died at the scene.
The 18-year-old fled east toward a vacant lot in the 10500 block of South Perry Street, where he collapsed and died.
Initial reports described the attack as gang-related and placed both victims outside Griffis's residence when the shots were fired. Authorities later identified the 18-year-old as William Aikens of the 1700 block of North Lotus.
Nearly two years passed before a suspect was publicly named and arrested.
In early August 2015, Chicago police announced the arrest of Rickey Winfield, a 22-year-old man from East Chicago, Indiana, in connection with the double homicide that killed the 18-year-old and Griffis.
A warrant for Winfield's arrest had been issued in May 2015; after his apprehension, a Cook County judge ordered him held on a $1 million bond.
News accounts at the time reported that prosecutors charged Winfield with murder for the October 16, 2013, shooting on South Lafayette; officials reiterated the sequence in which Griffis died at the scene and the 18-year-old ran to a nearby lot where he collapsed.
Subsequent coverage did not immediately detail a trial outcome, but the arrest and charging marked the first major break in the case since the day of the shooting.
Friends and strangers kept vigil online after the death of the 18-year-old, whose name appeared in memorial pages cataloging Chicago's homicide victims for that date.
Those listings preserved the essentials: the age of the 18-year-old, the city, and the date of October 16, 2013, alongside the place, Roseland, where the sound of gunfire ended a young life and left another family to mourn.
