A late-summer night in Lexington ended with a 16‑year‑old’s life taken in an unprovoked shooting. On the night of September 2, 2017, Floyd Dunn III was with friends who had left a block party and were outside a market on East Sixth Street when shots were fired into their group. Dunn was hit, taken to the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, and died of his injuries on September 3, 2017.

Lexington police ultimately identified three juveniles in connection with the killing. In January 2018 authorities arrested Raymond Thomas Smead, 16 at the time, Herbie Booker, 17, and Dontaevius Bowie. The trio were indicted on murder charges after investigators described a conspiracy that resulted in Dunn’s death. None of the cases proceeded to a murder trial; all three pleaded guilty to second‑degree manslaughter. Bowie and Booker received five‑year sentences; Smead drew a total 17‑year sentence, including ten years tied to Dunn’s death and seven years for separate robbery convictions. Prosecutors and Smead’s defense noted that Dunn and his friends had done nothing to provoke the shooting.