On the morning of May 21, 2022, a physical dispute on Perkins Street in Rome, Georgia, ended with 21-year-old Derricus Smith shot dead in the roadway. Officers arrived about 2:09 a.m. and found Smith with a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Witnesses said several people jumped into a black Dodge Challenger and fled before police arrived.

Smith, known to friends and family as Maddog, was a former standout linebacker for Rome High School’s two-time state championship team and would have turned 22 eight days after the shooting. Four people were initially arrested: Corey Lashun Chatman Jr., Justin Antonio Glynn, Malachai Alexander Williams, and Marquivias Nicholson; gang charges were later dismissed and Nicholson’s charges were dropped in an updated 2024 indictment.

In June 2024 three men pleaded guilty to reduced charges; court filings show Glynn identified Chatman as the shooter. Anyone with information about the night on Perkins Street or who saw the black Dodge Challenger is asked to come forward.