Courtney Copeland is hanging out with some friends at Paisans Pizzeria.

Paisans Pizzeria

While on his way to his girlfriend Alma's home, Courtney is shot in his car. When a timeline is later built based on Courtney's activities for the evening, it is discovered that he had texted Alma that he was outside the apartment while simultaneously talking to another girl and Facebook messaging his friend Brandon. By the time Alma came downstairs to open the door, Courtney was nowhere to be found. Courtney was driving his prized burgundy BMW at the time. A bullet entering from the driver's side window hit him in the back. He managed to drive to the nearest police station before he collapsed.

Chicago Police Department 25th District

A neighbor who heard shots fired calls 9-1-1 to report a shooting near Fullerton and Long. Police interview her about a month after Courtney is killed. She states that at the time she called, she told the police that they heard two shots. However, only one bullet would be found in Courtney and no blood would be found in his car. She later tells Courtney's mother and Alison Flowers that she witnessed Courtney's car speeding down an alley while waiting for her husband Edgar to meet her in the alley after hearing the gunshots. Shortly afterward, both she and Edgar see another car - a Mercury Grand Marquis - speeding down the alley with three male occupants. Edgar is in a position to see the men's faces clearly; he thinks at least two of them were Hispanic. Despite the fact that Edgar could identify both the car and its occupants, Chicago police do not attempt to interview him.

Shots heard (Approx. Location)

Courtney is rushed to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. He has a gunshot wound to the back and the bullet has pierced his heart.

Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center

Police are knocking at Shapearl Wells' door to inform her that her son had been taken to the hospital. They don't provide any details, just that she should go to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center immediately. When Shapearl learns about what happened, she is unsure why Courtney would be across town. Eventually, she learns that Courtney had a secret girlfriend, Alma, who lived in that area.

Shapearl's Home (Approx. Location)

At 2:01 am, Courtney is pronounced dead as a result of his injuries.

Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center

When Shapearl and the family arrive at the hospital, they are not allowed to see Courtney and are instead ushered into the "Family Room". Shapearl knows something is terribly wrong and demands to see her son. She has not yet been informed that her son is dead, and she does not yet know that police have already determined this is a murder. 30 minutes after their arrival, Shapearl is notified of her son's death by a doctor. She is finally allowed to see her son 2 hours later.

Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center

Strangely, one of the first things Chicago police ask Shapearl is who the owner of the BMW that Courtney was driving is. She replies that the car belongs to her son, though his name is not on the registration due to bad credit. Police assure Shapearl that they will be following up on leads and interviewing those close to Courtney - such as Alma - as they plan to work the case "in to out". Shapearl decides to record all conversations she has with the police. Shapearl requests Courtney's medical records and learns that Courtney had been handcuffed when he was brought in. This is confirmed by an emergency room nurse, who indicates that Courtney was treated more like a suspect than a patient and that it was highly unusual for anyone not in custody to be handcuffed. Shapearl is told that he was handcuffed for "medical reasons", since he was exhibiting signs of violence and agitation. Shapearl begins to suspect that her son may have been a victim of racial profiling and that his death may have been the result of a traffic stop gone wrong. She requests to see surveillance footage of the incident, but police deny her request.

Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center

A few days after Courtney's death, a tipster reaches out to Shapearl on Facebook. He says that on the night Courtney died, he saw three men in a Grand Marquis tossing a pistol under a truck. He called 9-1-1 and reported the incident. The tipster sends Shapearl a photo of the Grand Marquis that showed its license plate along with the message. When Shapearl brings this information to the police, they claim to already know about this, and that it is a completely separate incident unrelated to Courtney's murder.  It is later confirmed that the information provided by this witness exactly matches the descriptions provided by the 9-1-1 caller and her husband and that this call came in shortly after the first 9-1-1 call. In addition, the tipster is a Chicago cop.

Shapearl files public records requests, stages rallies, and enlists the help of the Invisible Institute, a non-profit journalism foundation, in gaining access to the surveillance footage from the night of Courtney's death. 500 days after the murder, she is granted access.

After viewing the footage from the night Courtney was shot, Shapearl is satisfied that her son was not killed by police, but she also does not see him being violent or agitated as had been alleged. Knowing that over the year since the murder, police still haven't interviewed any of his close friends despite saying they'd be working the case "in to out", she decides to solve her son's murder herself, and teams up with the Invisible Institute. Over the course of her investigation, she learns valuable information - such as the fact that Alma had a jealous ex-boyfriend - which she brings to the police, but they don't follow up on her leads.

On the second anniversary of Courtney’s death, Shapearl holds a middle-of-the-night protest in front of the police station. She drives the exact route that Courtney took on the night he was killed, at the same exact moment as he had driven it 2 years prior. Attending the vigil are the two witnesses, Elena and Edgar, who had heard gunshots the night of the murder, who meet with Shapearl to tell her what they witnessed.

Chicago Police Department 25th District

A woman is executed in front of her sister and nieces in a carjacking incident. The car is a BMW. By now, Shapearl has done enough investigating to know the murder occurred on the exact corner where Courtney had been shot. Shapearl and Alison learn about this incident from Randall, the Facebook tipster, who texts them with the news the day after the murder.

Carjacking Site (Approx. Location)

In conjunction with the Invisible Institute, Shapearl creates a podcast to examine the events leading up to her son's death and the subsequent investigation. This podcast will ultimately become a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Audio Reporting.