On April 2, 2018, 18-year-old Dylan Hemphill, a Black male from Detroit, was fatally shot during a live Instagram broadcast from a home on the city’s northwest side. Hemphill and a close friend, 18-year-old Dawone Cook, were showing money and firearms on camera when Cook was handling a rifle equipped with a bayonet and the weapon accidentally discharged. A single bullet struck Hemphill in the head; he was pronounced dead at the scene before paramedics arrived. Cook immediately called 911 to report the shooting, and investigators treated the incident as unintentional.

The Wayne County prosecutor’s office charged Cook with careless discharge of a firearm causing injury or death, a misdemeanor. Cook initially was taken into custody and released, missed his first scheduled arraignment but was later arraigned, pleaded guilty in June 2018, and in July 2018 was sentenced to three years probation, 100 hours of community service, and ordered to speak at schools about the dangers of playing with guns. Hemphill’s family described him and Cook as having a close, brotherly bond.