In the late afternoon of October 19, 2023, a burst of gunfire shattered the an otherwise typical day in the parking lot of a Quality Inn hotel on Lincoln Way West in South Bend, Indiana. When the echo of the shots faded, 20-year-old Amarion Kirk and another young man, 22-year-old Jasani Taylor, were found unresponsive in a vehicle, having suffered fatal gunshot wounds. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.
Kirk was a young male who had attended Clay High School and was known for his love of basketball, art, and making music.
The South Bend Police Department's Violent Crimes Unit immediately launched an investigation into the double homicide. A third person who was in the vehicle with Kirk and Taylor was located and taken in for questioning by detectives. Investigators began to piece together the events leading up to the shooting, reviewing surveillance footage from the hotel. The video revealed a chilling sequence of events: a vehicle carrying Kirk and Taylor pulled into the hotel parking lot and parked near a Chevrolet Trax. Shortly after, a male exited the Trax, armed with a rifle-type firearm, and opened fire into the driver's side of the victims' car multiple times before fleeing the scene on foot.
The investigation quickly zeroed in on a suspect, 26-year-old Reontre Lawrence. A critical piece of evidence, Lawrence's cell phone, was discovered in the vehicle he had abandoned in the hotel parking lot. Further surveillance footage from the area showed Lawrence running from the scene towards the nearby Beacon Heights Apartments, where he resided. A search of his apartment uncovered clothing that matched what the shooter was seen wearing in the hotel's surveillance video. With a growing body of evidence against him, a warrant was issued for Lawrence's arrest.
On October 31, 2023, Reontre Lawrence was located and apprehended in Indianapolis. He was transported back to South Bend to face charges for the murders of Amarion Kirk and Jasani Taylor. The St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office formally charged Lawrence with two counts of murder and a firearm enhancement. Following his arrest, he was held in the St. Joseph County Jail without bond. On April 4, 2025, a jury found Reontre Lawrence guilty of murder and reckless homicide. Subsequently, on May 9, 2025, he was sentenced to a total of 80 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections for his role in the deaths of the two young men.
