Steven M. Sims was 32 when he was fatally shot on the evening of April 17, 2014, at a residence on Stuart Street in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The shooting followed a confrontation at the home; the man who fired the shot was identified as 23-year-old Terry L. Shepard, who later said he had acted in self-defense and claimed Sims forced his way into the house and posed a threat.

Shepard fled the scene after the shooting and was arrested about three months later in Kenosha, where he had ties to friends and family. He was already on probation for a prior felony at the time of the incident, a status that made firearm possession unlawful for him.

Prosecutors initially charged Shepard with first-degree intentional homicide, but the case was tried on reduced charges. He was found guilty of second-degree reckless homicide, second-degree recklessly endangering safety, and being a felon in possession of a firearm, and received a 15-year prison sentence followed by 20 years of extended supervision. Shepard also faced separate charges in Racine County for robbery, false imprisonment, and strangulation from an unrelated incident.