On October 5, 2015, a gathering at a home on Ontario Center Road in Ontario, New York, ended with the death of 34-year-old Brett S. Brookover. According to accounts, an argument among guests — reportedly involving Marcus Stock and centering on drugs and a female guest, with racial tensions mentioned — escalated when homeowner Lee Thomas retrieved a shotgun and fired. Brookover was shot multiple times and later found dead in the driveway; Marcus Stock survived alleged gunshot wounds.

The initial call to the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office described a home invasion, but investigators determined the people involved knew each other and had been inside the residence before the shooting. Lee Thomas was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder for the alleged shooting at Marcus Stock, and criminal use of a firearm. Evidence introduced at trial, including the position of Brookover’s body and bloodstains near a vehicle some distance from the house, was presented to challenge Thomas’s claim of self-defense. In July 2016, a jury convicted Thomas of second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.