On the night of September 18, 2021, 35-year-old Shawn K. Terry II was shot in the chest inside a room at the Red Carpet Inn on Northern Boulevard in Albany, New York, and was pronounced dead at the scene. The killing was reported as Albany’s 14th homicide of 2021. Terry was a former championship wrestler at Averill Park High School whose family said he had struggled after witnessing the death of his best friend as a teenager; they remembered him as someone trying to build a better life.

Police later arrested 26-year-old Serieon Bankston and prosecutors indicted him on second-degree murder and weapon possession; he initially pleaded not guilty. In June 2022 Bankston pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of first-degree manslaughter, a plea the prosecution described as prompted by serious proof issues, and in August 2022 he was sentenced to 19 years in prison. Terry’s family spoke at sentencing, expressing profound grief and calling the sentence too lenient.

If anyone has information about Terry, his last hours, or the events at the motel that night, please share what is known.