Alpha Elizabeth Smith, 62, was fatally shot on the morning of Sunday, March 28, 2021, in Essex, Maryland. Smith had stopped at a Royal Farms near her home just before 7 a.m. on her way to work at a Food Lion to buy a soda; before she could exit her vehicle, a man she had never met blocked her car and shot her.

The killing of Smith was part of a wider, multi-location rampage that day. Police later identified 27-year-old Joshua Green as the shooter. After killing Smith, Green entered the Royal Farms and shot and killed another customer, 43-year-old Silvesta Daye, Jr., and wounded a 22-year-old store employee. Earlier the same day Green shot and killed his parents, 62-year-old Olivia Green and 58-year-old Douglas Green, at their Baldwin home. Green’s body was found in a parking lot near an apartment complex fire on Shadetree Road from a self-inflicted gunshot wound; investigators say Green set his own apartment on fire before taking his life and that he acted alone.

The motive remains unknown; police said Green had no prior criminal record and had legally purchased the firearm used. If anyone knew Alpha Elizabeth Smith or has information about her movements that morning, please share what you know.