'A bittersweet day': Celebrating what should have been a momentous birthday mark of Tyre Nichols

Music enveloped Fourth Bluff Park Monday evening, and people were dancing and singing under the clouds. After speeches and performances in tribute to Tyre Nichols, who died after he was beaten by police officers, a red sunset poked from the clouds, bathing canvas prints of photos he had taken during his time in Memphis.

Hundreds of people gathered in the Downtown Memphis park to celebrate what would have been Nichols' 30th birthday. Some were skating along Front Street, which was sectioned off and turned into a skate park for the evening, while others watched from the park.

The celebration took place almost five months after Nichols died after being beaten by multiple now-former officers from the Memphis Police Department. His autopsy, which was released a month ago, said the cause of death was blunt force trauma to his head.

Read more of Jacob Wilt's and Lucas Finton's reporting in the Commercial Appeal.