On May 20, 2023, 25-year-old Brian Ray Smith of Bakersfield, California, was shot and killed on Lincoln Avenue near Oildale Drive at about 9:36 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Surveillance footage shows Smith arriving in a white pickup truck with another person outside a smoke shop and casino; the truck performed a doughnut in the intersection before parking.

Two men, later identified as 20-year-old Omar Perez-Rodriguez and 18-year-old Fabian Huerta, exited the casino and observed the truck’s occupants. A confrontation followed in which Smith grabbed Huerta by the neck and stabbed him multiple times. Huerta escaped, and Smith advanced toward Perez-Rodriguez while still armed with the knife. Perez-Rodriguez fired a warning shot that missed and then fired again, fatally wounding Smith.

Perez-Rodriguez and Huerta were arrested and charged with second-degree murder, but at a November 2023 preliminary hearing a Kern County judge dismissed the charges, finding the defendants acted in lawful self-defense and that deadly force was used only when absolutely necessary to prevent death or great bodily injury. The District Attorney’s Office said the investigation is ongoing and will decide next steps when it is complete. Did anyone nearby see the confrontation or the truck before the shooting?