Dylan Taylor Bailey was 20 when he was fatally shot during the early morning hours of September 21, 2016, at Oakes Field in South Charleston. The confrontation began as a planned fight between Bailey and 21-year-old De’Anthony Akeem Thornabar; investigators said the dispute was connected to a woman. After a fistfight in which prosecutors say Bailey got the better of Thornabar, Bailey began walking away. Authorities say Robert Earl Ruffin, then 17 and accompanying Thornabar, produced a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson semiautomatic from a bag, handed it to Thornabar, and Thornabar shot Bailey in the back. Bailey was taken to a hospital and died later that morning.

Police arrested Thornabar at or near the scene; charges were upgraded to murder after Bailey died and the investigation expanded to Ruffin. Thornabar later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 40 years in January 2018. Ruffin pleaded to voluntary manslaughter and received a five-year sentence in November 2017. Family and friends held a candlelight vigil at Oakes Field days after the killing, leaving red balloons and candles in his memory.