[tense music]
♪ ♪
[dog barking in distance]
[call end tone]
- Go, go, go. What's going on?
[people shouting]
- All right. - Hold on.
Hold. Check his pulse.
Anybody else in here?
Nobody else in here?
- Check his pulse right now.
♪ ♪
- You can't feel his pulse?
- Any other injuries on him?
- Looks like it.
- Let's start shutting it down.
♪ ♪
- Look at the window.
It got shot out.
Whoa, look at all the glass all over the bed.
There is multiple holes.
Maybe he got shot through that window.
- Oh, [bleep]. Yeah, you're right.
Go ahead and freeze. Freeze everything.
This is a homicide. We need to get everybody out.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[narrator] For homicide detectives,
their chance of solving a murder
is cut in half
if they don't get a lead
within the first 48 hours.
[clock ticking]
[tense music]
- All right, so what do we have so far?
- Victim is Adavion.
Last name, Herring.
[tense music]
[narrator] 17-year-old Adavion Herring
was born in Brookhaven, Mississippi.
A sophomore at Memorial High School,
he had a deep love of sports, dancing, and rapping.
He leaves behind his mother, stepfather,
seven brothers, and three sisters.
[Watkins] OK.
♪ ♪
- So mother, daughter live in the apartment.
The daughter's boyfriend, the victim--
it's his friends.
[narrator] According to the mother,
her daughter's boyfriend and his friend, Adavion,
had been spending the night.
- They're all hanging out in her bedroom.
Gunshots start going off through her bedroom window.
I guess her boyfriend runs out.
[narrator] The boyfriend was not on scene
when police arrived.
[McNeal] OK. Let's see real quick.
- The bullets went through here.
♪ ♪
So here's our victim.
Looks to be hit on the side of the head on the right side.
♪ ♪
Bullet defects through the wall.
♪ ♪
There's also multiple projectiles
that are lodged in the bathroom door.
[McNeal] OK.
Let's try to get all projectiles,
and let's get those.
[officer] There's a whole bunch of casings in here.
A bunch of .45s.
Those casings in that parking lot...
Any bullet holes or anything?
- No, no bullet holes. Just a crack on the windshield.
♪ ♪
- It's kind of weird that
they got a bunch of rubber gloves in this car.
- All right. Hey!
Tulsa Police! - Back up! Back up!
- Tulsa Police!
- Coming behind you. Watch your crossfire.
- I got hands.
- I backed away.
All I saw was his feet and legs.
- OK. Open this.
Keep your hands up. - Come toward us.
- I got you.
[indistinct chatter]
[narrator] He says he's a friend of Adavion.
- Then why are you sitting out here, not talking to us?
- You didn't see 15 freakin' police cars
out here and want to talk to us?
- Let's go.
- Search where for the car? - Yeah.
[tense music]
- Nothing. - OK.
- Clear.
- The friend, he's hiding in the car.
- Make sure he didn't put a gun in there.
- It has been searched already.
- Then arrange for these people to get taken down
to the detective division.
[narrator] Patrol will transport the boyfriend
and the mother and daughter who live in the apartment
to Homicide for questioning.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- I don't know why he's coming out and hiding into a car
right next to where they're shooting.
- Tell me it's not my son!
Please tell me! Please! Please!
[officer] The mother of our victim, they called her.
[McNeal] I'll talk to her.
♪ ♪
I'm gonna get your information. OK?
Do you want to sit down in the car?
- [mother wailing] - Come on.
Let's sit down in the car while I talk to you.
[car door opens and closes]
- No. You're not gonna be able to see him right now.
He's in the apartment.
- We have to.
- He did not suffer.
The way it was, he did not suffer.
- OK?
- I'm so sorry.
You're gonna have to be strong, Mama.
The pain you're going through is gonna be hard.
I'm never gonna lie to you.
But you got people here that love you,
people here that are gonna be here for you.
We're gonna be here for you.
OK?
Somebody told me that your son had been a runaway.
- How long has he been a runaway?
- Since December? OK.
Do you know where he might have been staying at?
- OK.
I work for you guys. OK?
It don't matter what time of day it is.
If anything, call me. - Thank you.
[somber music]
[McNeal] I'm gonna head to division.
They shot through the window blindly.
They probably were looking in the shadows
because the lights were on.
So they probably saw movement and shadows.
They basically just opened fire into the window,
struck our victim in the head.
I mean, it was probably lights out pretty quick.
And so right now, we have the victim's friend down there,
the victim's friend's girlfriend,
and then the girlfriend's mom.
And I'm hoping, you know,
the street stuff will go out the window
and they'll just be legit
and say, hey, this is what happened.
So we shall see.
These are the people,
the witnesses that we have down here.
I'm just trying to learn who they are.
That's him.
He might be Five Tray.
[narrator] The boyfriend's record
indicates an affiliation with a local street gang,
the Five Tray Crips.
- All right, let's-- let's go.
[narrator] Detective Vernon McNeal
and Detective Reggie Warren
interview the mother who lives in the apartment.
[tense music]
[McNeal] All right.
So walk me through what you can remember from this morning.
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
♪ ♪
[McNeal] He said not to call the police?
[McNeal] How long have you known him?
[McNeal] OK.
[McNeal] Yeah, I get it.
[McNeal] Yeah.
How long have you known Adavion?
[McNeal] OK.
Did you know that [bleep] was gang-affiliated?
- Mm-hmm.
[McNeal] Uh-huh.
- Really?
- Yeah, it's sad.
And I mean, I talked to his mom.
His mom is just--
Yeah.
It's a sad day all the way around.
If you hear anything, please reach out to me, text me.
[somber music]
[door opens and closes]
- Mom's a sweet lady.
She's doing everything she can do to help.
I'll say that.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
[McNeal] All right, let's see what this young man has to say.
♪ ♪
I'm Detective McNeal. Call me Vernon.
[door shuts]
This is my partner, Reggie. All right?
I get the street stuff, man. We been doing this a long time.
That's out the window. Your homeboy got killed.
- OK. You're not in any trouble.
But we expect you to be straight-up with us.
OK?
That fair man-to-man? Is that fair?
[McNeal] OK. Walk me through what happened.
[McNeal] OK.
- So after you hear the shots and all that stuff,
you're the one saying call 911?
[tense music]
- That's not what we were told.
Do you think Mom's a liar, that she's gonna just lie?
- So would it shock you when Mom
was talking about calling 911, and you said,
wait, wait, don't call 911?
Would that be accurate?
- OK. You got to be honest with me, OK?
What set are you?
[narrator] He says several months ago
after another friend was murdered,
he left the gang and moved away.
- Has he been back two months, 2 1/2 months?
[McNeal] Before he stopped, what set did you claim?
Who have you been having issues with?
[McNeal] So man, this might not be gang stuff.
Maybe this is over your girl.
Maybe some other dude liked your girl and didn't like you.
Is that possible?
- All right. So--
[narrator] He says two weeks ago,
he was on a video call with his girlfriend
when another male jumped in.
- Who did she tell you it was?
- And what was his name?
- Ain't no way in the world
some fool gonna grab her phone and get on there
and run his mouth to you and you not ask who that was.
[McNeal] I care about figuring out who killed your friend.
I think you're leaving some stuff out.
I think you know who might have issues with you,
and you're not telling me.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
[tense music]
♪ ♪
[McNeal] Who was it?
[tense music]
[clock ticking]
♪ ♪
[McNeal] I don't believe everything you're telling me.
But I'm not gonna sit here and beg you to do the right thing
when I can try to go figure out
who killed your friend in other ways.
All right, man, it is what it is.
[door opens]
[door closes]
So you kind of have an idea of why you're up here.
OK?
We wanna talk to you about what happened this morning.
- OK.
So you come back in, and--
- On the floor.
So please be 100% honest with me.
OK?
When you said you went outside--
And you saw two guys--
Who did you think you saw?
[tense music]
[McNeal] Now, look at me, and this is very important.
How sure are you--
- OK.
[McNeal] Is your boyfriend and Siion beefing?
- OK.
- He was just talking stuff to him over your phone?
- Is there anything else you can think of
that might be helpful?
- Really?
- Like iPhone shares?
[McNeal] Can you retroactive that?
Like, can you go back to see all the places they've been?
[McNeal] OK, show me that real quick.
[narrator] Siion's location has not updated
in several hours.
- Usually, I take people's phones to dump them.
OK?
[narrator] Detectives will collect the phone
to access Siion's location data.
- You're hanging out with gangsters, man.
I would tell you, you know,
wash your hands of this nonsense.
You know, don't be hanging around these cats,
because here you are today,
and by God's grace, you weren't shot.
♪ ♪
[McNeal] Give me a second. We'll get you out of here.
♪ ♪
[door closes]
♪ ♪
There's this allurement of gangster lifestyle.
In my opinion, it's getting a lot of our young people killed.
It's getting a lot of young people in trouble.
And it's tragic that they feel that
this is how they need to live.
♪ ♪
Let me look real quick.
[indistinct chatter]
That's Siion.
[narrator] Siion Ferguson is 17 years old.
[tense music]
[McNeal] And that's Kyron Lee.
[narrator] Kyron Lee turned 17 two days ago.
- Kyron's never really been in trouble, at least here.
- They're both, uh, Five Trays.
♪ ♪
[McNeal] Our witness did not see Siion shoot.
[man] She saw him walk within a minute or so--
- No. - When shots were fired?
- More like ten seconds.
She comes outside. She sees Siion.
He was crouched down by her window.
She walks back into her apartment
and by that time, they're shooting through the window.
So that's maybe less than ten seconds.
The second guy, she said, I thought it was Kyron,
but I didn't see him
because he was ducked down behind this bush.
- OK.
[McNeal] Two different calibers,
so both of them shot.
- Yeah.
[McNeal] I think there's a prior beef there.
And then so they're going back. - Ain't no doubt.
And this boy got caught in the middle of it.
[McNeal] I'm leaning toward we have a PC on Siion.
[Warren] She's a good witness. I mean, she knows him.
She's dating. She used to be in a relationship with him.
- Yeah.
- I'm getting good vibes today, man, on this.
It's just lucky that
he's sharing his location with this girl.
- We just need a updated iPhone ping.
♪ ♪
That's it. He's connected to Wi-Fi.
- Man, this is money now.
[McNeal] He's in Westminster.
- I'm gonna put it on the group.
And warrants is willing to set up on him.
♪ ♪
[radio beeps]
- It looks like it's going to the parking lot.
♪ ♪
- He's moving.
[McNeal] God, I hope he has a gun on him.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
♪ ♪
[dog barking]
[handcuffs clicking]
♪ ♪
- That's Kyron. - That's Kyron.
- Please be a .45. - [laughs]
- If they tell me one's a .45 and other's a 9--
- It's game. - Yeah.
- [clicks tongue] Yes, sir.
Excellent work, gentlemen.
[officer] It's huge.
[officer] Right caliber of gun.
That's the corroboration that we need.
♪ ♪
- Step on out for me.
Huh?
- Downtown.
Let's roll.
[car horn honks]
♪ ♪
- Put him on the actual bench.
- Siion on the bench. - Siion on the bench.
♪ ♪
- Kyron, he had the 9-millimeter or .45?
- 9.
[McNeal] It's good he had the gun on him,
'cause then I can say the .45 is his.
And he's probably the kill shot.
Game plan is we're going to talk with Kyron first.
He really doesn't have a criminal history,
so we'll try and say, hey, man, this is what's going on.
And you don't want to throw away the rest of your life
over holding out for Siion.
Because I'm pretty sure Siion was the one
that killed the person. So hopefully, that, you know,
we'll go there, and then he'll come off of it.
♪ ♪
So man, I'm Detective McNeal.
Please call me Vernon.
This is my partner, Detective Farrell.
And we want to talk to you about why you are down here.
You going to school?
All right. What grade are you in?
[McNeal] What do you wanna do
when you graduate from high school?
What do you wanna do with your life?
[McNeal] That sounds like a plan, bro.
All right, so walk me through the last 24 hours of your life.
[McNeal] So you spent the night.
[tense music]
- OK.
This gentleman here--
- OK.
So Siion spent the night with you.
♪ ♪
All right.
Did y'all ever leave your aunt's house last night?
Never?
All the way till when you guys got stopped,
you've been with Siion the whole time?
All right. Look at me. OK?
If you wanna have any type of future,
whether it's in the Marines,
whether it's you wanting a family, any of that,
this is where it gets serious.
OK?
Earlier this morning, an apartment got shot up,
and a man was killed.
[McNeal] Yeah.
OK? - No, no, no.
- You don't know what I'm talking about?
- No, no, no, no. - [McNeal] No?
People know Siion that live out there and see Siion
and another individual shooting the apartment up.
You say I'm with Siion the entire time
'til when y'all got stopped in the car,
you with a gun and Siion with a gun.
Either one, you were with Siion
when that apartment was shot up, or two,
you're lying and you're trying to cover for Siion.
Which one is it?
Are you lying and trying to cover for Siion?
So you were with Siion, then.
♪ ♪
[McNeal] But you said you were with him all night.
OK.
- This is not the time to play the game.
This is possibly either the majority or the rest
of your life we're talking about.
What you do here today and what you say here today is huge.
I've seen a lot of young men
younger than you come in here and play this game
like they don't know nothing about nothing,
and now they're sitting in prison for the next 35 years
of their life.
Now, both people shot,
but I know whose bullet killed this guy.
This is your opportunity
to be straight up and tell me what happened this morning.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- If you're gonna play this game where, oh, man, you know,
yeah, I was at my aunt's house--
- So your gun's not gonna come back to that scene?
♪ ♪
OK. Sit tight, man. I'll be right back.
♪ ♪
[door shuts]
[McNeal] Yeah, he's playing dumb.
He's ride-or-die with his brother.
Hey, little bro. You doing all right?
Man, I'm Detective McNeal.
Man, do you know why you're up here?
No.
Do you wanna talk to me about why you're up here?
- Mm-mm. - You don't wanna talk?
Cool beans. All right.
Then you're gonna get booked into jail
for first-degree murder, OK?
All right, brother.
[indistinct chatter]
- All right, Siion. Ready?
♪ ♪
- Come on, man.
[McNeal] Kyron is going for possession
of a firearm by a minor.
We're not gonna arrest Kyron right now for the murder
because our witness didn't really identify him.
I don't think we have enough PC just yet.
Well, according to him,
him and Siion were together all night last night.
They were at the aunt's house. I need to talk to her.
♪ ♪
[phone line trilling]
[narrator] The next morning.
- This is Detective McNeal with the Tulsa Police Department.
I don't know if you heard about that shooting that happened.
Your name has come up as possibly being an alibi witness
for one of the people that we think might be involved.
That's why I need to talk to you.
[narrator] The woman who Kyron calls his aunt
says she will come to Homicide with her two boys.
[McNeal] All right. Thanks.
She said, I think my sons will be more
beneficial to you than me.
Adavion was best friends with her son.
♪ ♪
So I'm hoping they'll talk.
But worst-case scenario is they play that street nonsense
about not being a snitch,
not wanting their name on paper,
and they act like they don't know anything.
♪ ♪
So her grandson and her son, we have them separated.
And if you have witnesses together,
they'll basically mimic each other's story,
where if you have them separated,
they can't kind of feed off each other.
I'm Detective McNeal. Please call me Vernon.
[door shuts]
[narrator] McNeal starts with the grandson.
[McNeal] We're investigating the death of Adavion, OK?
So you saw that Siion was arrested.
- Mm-hmm. [McNeal] OK.
One of the other gentlemen that was with Siion
was a kid named Kyron.
[McNeal] OK. And so Kyron basically came here
and said that he was at your house that morning with Siion.
Did they show up at your house together?
[McNeal] Do you know what time they came to your house?
[McNeal] They came to your house at midnight?
- Absolutely. - OK.
[phone line trilling]
[narrator] The aunt asks her daughter when Siion and Kyron
arrived at the apartment.
[narrator] The time she gives
is 90 minutes after the 911 call came in.
[McNeal] OK. Tell her thank you.
That's very helpful.
[McNeal] Let me ask you this.
Did they say anything when they got to the house
about shooting something up,
anything?
[McNeal] No?
[narrator] She says Siion and Kyron left the house
after Adavion's family called with word of his death.
[McNeal] All right. I'll get you out of here, bro.
Let me get in real quick.
Come out here that way.
[door opens]
Have a seat right there.
[door closes] All right.
So basically, the reason you're up here
is to determine when Siion and Kyron
might have came to y'all's house.
So you would have been awake when they got there?
[McNeal] Where were you at?
- OK.
How long did they stay at the house when you got there?
- And they left when you left?
Is there anything else you can think of
that might help me out?
[tense music]
♪ ♪
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- Mm-hmm.
[somber music]
[McNeal] It was a sad deal all the way around,
and I do appreciate for being honest and telling me that.
Let me bring him back up in here.
And if you wanna hop back out, man.
Sit down, little homie.
[door closes]
Man, I get you're probably scared.
I truly do.
Man, I wish you weren't in this position.
But Adavion, he did not deserve what happened to him.
Be straight up with me.
We need to know what you know,
and we need to know what they told you.
It's very important.
♪ ♪
- Was it just Siion saying this?
Or was it just Kyron saying this?
Or were they both saying they both shot the house up?
OK.
They killed your friend, came to your house,
they laughed about killing your friend, your brother,
and then they threw your name and your grandma's name
and your brother's name down as an alibi to cover for them
for killing your brother.
I know you don't wanna be here, but you did.
You stepped up, man, and I really appreciate that.
You hear anything, anything changes, let me know.
All right?
- Thank you.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
[Warren] Those are two quality interviews right there.
[McNeal] Yeah.
[Warren] They stood up and manned up.
[McNeal] Kyron said I was there all night.
They're saying, no, he wasn't. He came late.
And then he's like, yeah, they told us we shot up the house,
shot through the window, gave details.
And so, yeah, we're good.
We have enough PC for the murder.
[narrator] With 14 hours left in the first 48,
McNeal closes his case.
♪ ♪
- We deal with these young juveniles
from the ages of 12, 13, 14.
It starts little.
They might steal something from Walmart.
And then it cycles.
It's misguided ideology that we call street lifestyle.
If my mentality and my focus is being a known street guy,
well, they just killed somebody.
It's notoriety for them.
That's why they can giggle about killing their friend.
♪ ♪
People want change.
That's one of the first things that has to change,
is that mindset towards embracing that street life.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
[indistinct chatter]
[narrator] Six months since Adavion's death.
- Today we're gonna have a balloon release.
Got a lot of blue balloons.
His favorite color was blue.
He got his friends and just people that care about us.
- We just celebrating him.
He's not here physically, but his spirit is here,
and I feel it every day.
I try my best to lift my mom up and keep her up.
♪ ♪
- I thank God for the 17 years
that he did bless me with Adavion.
Adavion was my happy child. He was my joyful baby.
We gonna go down here, y'all, in this open area down here.
♪ ♪
We're gonna do this in remembrance
of Adavion "Boss" "A3" Herring.
On the count of three.
One, two, three.
all: I love you!
- I love you, A3!
♪ ♪
I just wish he could reach down and grab those balloons,
and I could see his hand.
♪ ♪
I miss him so much.
I miss his smile.
I miss his voice.
[sniffles]
Things that I can never get back.
♪ ♪