Wright Sando

Wright Sando, a 23-year-old man from Delray Beach, Florida, was remembered by friends as a hardworking and authentic soul with a positive spirit. A graduate of West Boca Raton Community High School, he was a passionate football player who motivated his teammates on and off the field. Friends described him as the type of person who would give you the shirt off his back and whose wise words were pure and meaningful. In 2020, Sando, a Black man known to loved ones as 'Sando,' had recently become the father of a baby girl. His life, full of promise and remembered for its loyalty, was cut short during a violent encounter in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

On the night of June 1, 2020, events unfolded inside the Pike Place Apartments on North Albert Pike Avenue that would end in tragedy. Sando had traveled to Arkansas from Florida with an acquaintance, 25-year-old Alexis Frankel. According to court records, Frankel had arranged a deal to sell approximately 10 pounds of marijuana to a local man named Landon Silva. However, prosecutors later argued that the drug deal was a ruse for a planned robbery orchestrated by Frankel and Sando.

The situation escalated quickly after Silva and his girlfriend arrived at the apartment. Fort Smith Police received calls reporting gunshots in the area around 11:10 p.m. Investigators determined that during the robbery attempt, Sando entered the apartment armed with a rifle. In response, Silva drew his own firearm and shot Sando. When police arrived, they found Wright Sando deceased at the scene. His death was officially recorded on June 2, 2020. Investigators would later conclude that Silva had acted in self-defense when he fired the fatal shot.

In the chaotic moments that followed the shooting, Frankel shoved the apartment’s owner, who fell and struck his head. Frankel then shot and wounded Landon Silva before fleeing the scene. Silva was transported to a hospital and survived his injuries. The Fort Smith Police Department immediately began a homicide investigation and publicly identified Alexis Frankel as a person of interest they sought to question in connection with the deadly incident.

The investigation took a significant step forward on June 16, 2020, when Alexis Frankel turned himself in to authorities at the Sebastian County Adult Detention Center. He was subsequently charged with manslaughter in the death of Wright Sando, first-degree battery for the shooting of Landon Silva, and two counts of armed robbery. The case was built on the legal principle that although Frankel did not fire the shot that killed Sando, he was criminally responsible for his death because he had orchestrated the violent felony that set the deadly chain of events in motion.

A strange event complicated the initial crime scene investigation when a Fort Smith police detective accidentally discharged his firearm, striking another detective in the hand and chest. The injured detective was wearing a ballistic vest and suffered only minor injuries. The Arkansas State Police conducted a separate investigation into the accidental discharge.

In June 2021, a Sebastian County jury found Alexis Frankel guilty of manslaughter and the associated charges after a two-day trial. The jury recommended that his sentences for the various convictions run concurrently, and he was ultimately sentenced to serve 10 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections.

The death of Wright Sando left his friends and family heartbroken and with many unanswered questions. Former teammates mourned the loss of a man they considered a brother, recalling his powerful words of encouragement. "He never failed to tell me I was special and that I was going to be great," one friend shared. As of early 2026, the criminal case in Wright Sando's death is closed, with Alexis Frankel serving his sentence in a state correctional facility.