On a spring evening in Hartford, Connecticut, the life of 15-year-old Kerry Foster Jr. was tragically cut short. It was May 28, 2006, and the Black male teenager was with his 14-year-old friend, Cinque Sutherland, on a street corner when gunfire erupted in a drive-by shooting. Foster was struck by five bullets and died from his injuries, while his friend was seriously wounded by three bullets.
The two boys, both students at Fox Middle School, were not involved in any gangs and were considered innocent victims of a senseless act of violence that stemmed from an ongoing feud between neighborhood groups.
The shooting was determined to be a retaliatory act for a previous gang-related shooting that had occurred earlier the same day. The perpetrators, who were members of a local gang, had set out to conduct a drive-by shooting in the Nelton Court area of Hartford without a specific target in mind. They came across a group of young people at the corner of Elmer and Clark Streets and opened fire, firing at least seventeen shots into the group.
The investigation into the homicide was carried out by the Major Crimes Division of the Hartford Police Department, along with the Cold Case Unit of the Office of the Chief State's Attorney and the State of Connecticut Department of Correction. In August 2009, three years after the shooting, two suspects were arrested in connection with the murder of Kerry Foster and the wounding of his friend. Paul Davis, who drove the vehicle used in the shooting, and Ackeem Riley, one of the shooters, were charged with the crime.
In March 2013, a jury convicted Paul Davis of accessory to murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and criminal attempt to commit murder. He was subsequently sentenced to a total effective sentence of 100 years in prison in May 2013. Ackeem Riley also faced justice for his role in the shooting. He pleaded no contest to being an accessory to murder and guilty to being an accessory to first-degree assault. While it was confirmed that Riley fired a weapon, prosecutors could not definitively determine if his shots were the ones that struck Foster and Sutherland. Riley was already serving a sentence for another murder that occurred in November 2006. The third individual in the car, Dominique Mack, was also identified as being armed and involved in the discussion to carry out the shooting.
