Sherman Smith, 40, was shot and killed on the night of February 22, 2017, after answering a knock at a two-story row house on Brunswick Street in Baltimore. His daughter, who rented a room upstairs, had been involved in an ongoing dispute with the first-floor resident and property owner, Carlton Beachum, over rent and eviction pressure. Smith went to the house with his uncle, Joseph Sanders, and met his daughter at the entry; Sanders waited near the front door while Smith moved toward Beachum’s door. A confrontation at the doorway escalated into gunfire around 8 p.m. Smith was struck in the chest and later died at the Shock Trauma center. Sanders was wounded in the stomach and was expected to survive, according to early reports.

Detectives identified Beachum as the suspect, saying he retrieved a gun after the knock, fired through the glass of the front door as the men began to walk away, then stepped outside and fired additional shots, striking both men. Beachum was arrested and charged; police recovered a .40 caliber Glock 22 semiautomatic pistol. The jury later convicted Beachum of voluntary manslaughter in Smith’s death and related offenses. Did anyone in the neighborhood see the confrontation that night or have information about what led up to it?