On the evening of October 7, 2011, Cedric Maxwell Morgan, 30, was shot during an attempted robbery while he and his wife Crystal were in their vehicle near Martin Luther King Jr. Street and St. Catherine Street in Natchez, Mississippi. The assailant, later identified as Davarious Clemons, demanded compliance at gunpoint; Morgan tried to flee and was struck by a bullet that entered his chest. He continued driving about three blocks before the vehicle struck a brick fence on Jefferson Street. Morgan died at the crash scene before officers arrived.

Investigators arrested Davarious Clemons and charged him with murder. In March 2013 Clemons accepted a plea agreement, pleading guilty to manslaughter and armed robbery rather than facing a capital murder trial. At sentencing the judge imposed 20 years for manslaughter and 45 years for armed robbery to run concurrently; Clemons apologized and Morgan’s mother addressed him in court, offering forgiveness.