A family argument over a handgun ended in fatal gunfire on May 22, 2021, in Detroit’s 13200 block of Whitcomb Street. Sixty-six-year-old Clyde Edmonds was found on the front lawn with multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead after transport to a hospital. The dispute involved relatives: Edmonds’s wife is the first cousin of the suspect’s mother.

Investigators identified 29-year-old Keith Appling as the shooter. After the shooting Appling fled; his girlfriend, Natalie Brooks Banister, drove him away. Appling was arrested on May 24 in Chelsea, Michigan, where a firearm was recovered. He was charged with first-degree murder, felon in possession of a firearm, and felony firearm.

As the case moved toward trial, Appling pleaded guilty on February 13, 2023, to second-degree murder and one count of felony firearm under a plea agreement. On March 3, 2023, he received an 18 to 40 year sentence for second-degree murder plus a consecutive two-year term for the felony firearm conviction. Banister pleaded guilty in July 2022 to lying to a police officer; the accessory charge was dismissed and she was sentenced to 18 months probation.

Did anyone in the Whitcomb Street neighborhood see or hear anything the evening of May 22, 2021?