An argument over a children’s football in Smokecreek Mobile Home Park in unincorporated Snellville, Georgia, on May 23, 2018, ended with 18-year-old Ezekiel Smith shot and killed. The confrontation began when 33-year-old Robert Jennings and a 16-year-old argued about the ball; Jennings drew a handgun, threatened the teen and fired a warning shot. Later that day both groups confronted one another. Jennings and his nephews returned to Smith’s residence, where Jennings pistol-whipped the 16-year-old and a gun discharged. Ezekiel Smith drew a handgun to protect his younger brother, not knowing it was unloaded; Jennings then shot Smith multiple times in the foot, neck and back. Smith was taken to a hospital and later died.

Jennings fled but turned himself in two days later and was charged in connection with Smith’s death. At trial he asserted self-defense; the jury acquitted on malice murder but convicted on voluntary manslaughter, two counts of aggravated assault and three weapons charges. In March 2020 a judge sentenced Jennings to 40 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation. Does anyone have details about the confrontation earlier that day or witnesses who saw the groups before Jennings returned to Smith’s home?