Marquis Turner, 21 and visiting from Illinois, was fatally shot on September 8, 2019, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The shooting occurred in the 2400 block of Halls Hill Pike near the Elks Lodge during a large party; Turner was walking on the sidewalk near Journey Drive when he was struck by gunfire and later died at the hospital.

Early investigators described the attack as apparently random, with no known connection between Turner and his assailant. Detectives interviewed multiple people who had been in the crowded area that night as they sought a motive and the shooter’s identity. After a lengthy probe, Murfreesboro police named Khaleel A. Smith, a man from Georgia, as the primary suspect and determined the fatal shots were fired from inside a vehicle with the window rolled up.

At the time charges were filed, Smith was serving time in a federal penitentiary in Georgia on unrelated matters. He was transferred to Murfreesboro in 2021 to face second-degree murder and weapons-by-a-convicted-felon charges and was held at the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center pending court proceedings. If anyone witnessed the shooting that night or has information about the vehicle or movement near Halls Hill Pike, please come forward.