On May 20, 2021, 28-year-old Vincent Williams of Knoxville, Tennessee, was shot and killed in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue during an afternoon when children were playing with water balloons. Witnesses say a heated argument began after a man later identified as 57-year-old Ralphelle James complained that the children were interfering with his drug activity. Williams reportedly intervened to defend his child, and shortly afterward James approached him and shot him twice.

Witness descriptions of the shooter and a dark-colored BMW allowed Knoxville Police to identify and locate James quickly; he was arrested at a Weigel’s on Summit Hill and charged with first-degree murder and being a convicted felon in possession of a weapon. At trial in September 2023 a jury convicted James of second-degree murder, unlawful possession of a weapon by a violent felon, and reckless endangerment. Sentencing was set for November 2023.

Does anyone have information about Vincent’s life in the neighborhood or observed activity around the apartment complex that afternoon?