Late on March 23, 2014, 62-year-old Sylvester Downs was killed during a home invasion at his house on 704 East 6th Street in Tifton, Georgia. A small group was playing cards when two men forced entry and demanded money; one of the intruders had a black and silver handgun. A struggle occurred in a hallway and a single gunshot fatally wounded Downs as he defended his home and family. He was found unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene.

The Tifton Police Department, with assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Tift County Sheriff’s Office, arrested three people in April 2014: Deonta Rashad Rich, 20; Justin Rashad Dixon, 23; and Consurilla McCray Mayo, 34. Rich was tried in September 2016; a jury convicted him of felony murder, two counts of armed robbery and one count of kidnapping, and the judge sentenced him to life without parole, with family describing Downs as frail yet protective of his family.