On the evening of February 22, 2017, a dispute at an apartment building on the 400 block of West South Street in Frederick, Maryland, ended with 28-year-old Zachary Ryan Winters shot once in the chest. Police found Winters on the floor inside the building where a witness was attempting to provide aid; medics pronounced him dead at the scene.

The confrontation began when 62-year-old Richard Jerome Harriday was reportedly pounding on an apartment door and yelling. Winters intervened to stop the harassment and punched Harriday, after which Harriday went to a nearby garage. Witnesses said they heard a garage door open and close; Harriday returned holding a .38-caliber revolver and shot Winters. Harriday fled to a nearby garage, locked himself inside and later surrendered after a two-hour standoff with negotiators.

Harriday was charged with murder and related handgun offenses. In February 2018 he entered an Alford plea to first-degree murder; a judge found him guilty and sentenced him to life with the possibility of parole. Winters was remembered at sentencing by family and friends as a super guy.