Two convicted gang members were sentenced Monday to life in prison for the 2016 murder of a 24-year-old woman.
Shanna Smith was shot and killed Aug. 4 of that year in retaliation for the shooting of another gang member the previous day. According to Fulton County prosecutors, Smith was not involved in the earlier shooting or any criminal activity, and her death was a case of mistaken identity.
Credit: Crime Stoppers Atlanta
Credit: Crime Stoppers Atlanta
Matthew Larkins, 37, and Travon Mack, 27, were convicted of her murder and a number of related crimes last week. A judge on Monday sentenced both men to life in prison plus 25 years, a spokesman for District Attorney Paul Howard said Tuesday.
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Larkins and Mack were among a group of five men who opened fire into Smith’s vehicle, which was similar to the gunman’s in the earlier shooting, prosecutors said.
She died of a single gunshot wound to the side of her head.
“Gang violence has no logical boundaries,” Howard said in a statement announcing the convictions. “It touches gang members, their families, and as we witnessed in this case, innocent victims. During this incident, an innocent woman, not connected with any gang or criminal activity, was shot down while driving her own vehicle on her way home from work, simply because a group of gang members misidentified her car.”
On the night of her death, Smith agreed to drive a coworker home to Hadlock Street in southwest Atlanta after they finished their shift at the Amazon warehouse in Union City, prosecutors said in a news release. After dropping off her coworker, Smith pulled away in her dark-colored BMW.
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She did not make it very far. Atlanta police found her slumped behind the wheel of her bullet-riddled vehicle in a ditch near Leslie Avenue. The BMW was wedged between shrubs and trees with its wheels still spinning, AJC.com previously reported.
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Of the 43 shell casings discovered at the scene, the majority were fired from two AR-15 rifles. Four other calibers of rounds were also found, prosecutors said.
None of the suspects remained on the scene, but investigators found a cellphone they linked to 27-year-old Dejon Fuller. He was tracked down and ultimately implicated Larkins, Mack and two other men, prosecutors said. His story was corroborated by cellphone records.
Larkins, who was convicted in a 2010 drug case out of Clayton County, and Mack, who also had a prior conviction for burglary out of Clayton County in 2011, were tried and found guilty last Wednesday. A jury convicted them of murder, participation in a criminal street gang, aggravated assault, damage to property and weapons crimes in connection with Smith’s death.
Another co-defendant, 25-year-old Richard Ash, was tried at the same time but the jury hung on his case. He will be tried again at a later date, prosecutors said.
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The two remaining defendants are not likely to go to trial. Fuller testified on behalf of the state and is likely to take a plea deal, and 28-year-old Darien Sherry is in a coma at Grady Memorial Hospital after an unrelated accident. Authorities do not expect Sherry to survive.
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