Jack Taylor Sykes III was 23 when he was shot and killed in Franklin, Virginia, after an encounter that began days earlier. Bryant then spent several days trying to find Sykes and learning his identity and whereabouts.

On the evening of August 4, 2019, Bryant located Sykes at the Dorchester Apartments on Dorchester Street. In a ground-floor entryway Bryant shot Sykes at close range; Sykes was found with gunshot wounds to his abdomen and upper right arm and died after police arrived. Bryant fled but was later apprehended and charged with murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

At trial in Southampton County Circuit Court Bryant asserted self-defense, saying he believed Sykes was armed and posed an imminent threat. The prosecution pointed to Bryant’s efforts to find Sykes and obtain a weapon during the prior week as evidence of premeditation. After a five-day trial a jury convicted Bryant of first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony; an appeal was later denied by the Court of Appeals of Virginia.

Did anyone in Franklin or at Dorchester Apartments see Jack Sykes or the two men in the days before August 4, 2019?