Rondy Samuel Shields III was 20 when he was fatally shot on June 25, 2017, at Pisgah View Apartments, a public housing complex in Asheville, North Carolina. Surveillance video captured the shooting just after noon. Shields was struck in the back; the wound perforated his spine, a lung, and his right jugular vein and proved fatal.

Evidence at trial established that Davon Tyrone Smith, then newly 16, fired a .40 caliber handgun at least five times in Shields’s direction as Shields tried to flee on foot. Smith was arrested on November 8, 2017, at an Asheville motel and charged with first-degree murder; his case was moved to adult court. On June 22, 2021, a Buncombe County jury convicted Smith of first-degree murder, and Superior Court Judge Donald Bridges imposed life with the possibility of parole, making Smith eligible after 25 years.

Family and supporters of Smith raised concerns about the trial’s fairness, noting the jury contained only one Black juror and disputing the strength of the evidence. Supporters and witnesses at sentencing also emphasized community resource failures as contributing factors.