A Group Was Heading to a Party When They Encountered Some Guests Leaving. The Meeting Ended with a Teen Dead.

A group was heading to a party when they crossed paths with some people who had just left. Pleasant words were exchanged, but then gunfire rang out.

The encounter ended with a teen dead, and the killer unknown. Now, more than a decade later, police have yet to solve the cold case.

Around 10:15 p.m. on Aug. 17, 2013, police in Richmond, Virginia, responded to a reported shooting on East Brookland Park Boulevard. Garrick Ellis, 18, was walking with friends toward a party.

They encountered another group that was leaving the same event.

"As they were walking to the party they passed another group of individuals that were coming from the party," then-Det. Marc Adams told WWBT after the deadly shooting. "There were some words exchanged. The investigation has revealed it's nothing hostile, just a 'Hi, how are you,' that kind of thing."

Three small pops were heard and everybody thought it was firecrackers, according to WWBT. That was until Ellis said he was hit. He ran to a nearby street and collapsed. Ellis later died at the hospital from his wounds.

Police said they don’t believe he was the intended target. But authorities have not released any suspect information.

"It still don't feel real to us, like he's really gone," his girlfriend, Kashe Booker told WBTW in 2013.

Family and friends had a vigil shortly after Ellis’ murder. They told WTVR that his father was killed just years earlier in what a judge ruled was justifiable homicide.

"It's just bringing back memories,” his grandmother, Parthenia West, said at the time, according to WTVR.

At the vigil, the victim’s aunt, Nicole West, urged whoever killed the teen to come forward. It hasn’t happened in the decade since.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact police at (804) 780-1000.