William Popeye Blackmon, 51, was fatally shot in Buffalo, New York, on the night of May 26, 2013. He was a well-known figure in the East Ferry–Moselle–Grider–Woodlawn neighborhood and is widely believed to have been targeted because he cooperated with homicide detectives after witnessing the July 2012 daylight killing of his friend Darryl Bobby McDavis.

Blackmon’s eyewitness account helped lead to the arrest of primary suspect Wyatt Chicago Hayes, who was taken into custody in Tennessee and later pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter on May 17, 2013. Nine days after that plea, Blackmon was gunned down a few blocks from where McDavis was killed. In the days before his death he reportedly slept on a chair at his sister’s home, apparently uneasy about his safety.

Family and friends remember him as generous despite personal struggles and believe his cooperation with police cost him his life. A vigil was held in May 2014 calling for tips, and the Buffalo Police Department lists the case as a cold homicide with no publicly identified suspects or arrests. If anyone knew William or has information about what happened, please contact the department’s confidential tip line.