Lee Raymond Smith Jr., a 20-year-old Black man, was shot to death in Natchez, Mississippi, on January 3, 2017. Another person was wounded in the same shooting.

Smith had an earlier deadly connection to the town’s long-running feud: in August 2011 he was identified as the shooter in the killing of Walter Washington at the Natchez Mall. Reports tied that killing to retaliation for an earlier shooting of a family member. Multiple people were initially charged in the 2011 case; charges against five were later dropped for insufficient evidence. In March 2014 Smith pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a 20-year sentence with a requirement to serve 15 years. His half-brother Latravis Clay, who drove during the 2011 shooting, received 10 years.

Smith was out of prison when he was killed in 2017; the circumstances of his release are not detailed. No suspects or arrests in the 2017 killing have been publicly reported. If anyone has information about the January 3, 2017 shooting in Natchez, please share what is known.