In the early hours of May 13, 2018, gunfire erupted on the 1000 block of Askin Street in Martinsville, Virginia. Twenty-year-old Sean Demetrius Goddard Jr. was gravely wounded and taken to SOVAH of Martinsville; he died of his injuries the next day, May 14, 2018. The death was ruled a homicide and the Martinsville Police Department opened an intensive investigation.

Police identified three suspects connected to the fatal shooting. Warrants were issued for Brandon Tarall Thomas and Adrian Eugene Watkins on multiple charges including first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and firearm offenses; both were described as armed and dangerous. Corey Vershawn Johnson was alleged to have been the person who fired the shots.

Adrian Eugene Watkins later pleaded guilty to possession of a deadly weapon by a violent felon; in exchange, the Commonwealth dropped the first-degree murder and conspiracy counts against him and he received a five-year prison sentence plus restitution. Cases against Brandon Tarall Thomas and Corey Vershawn Johnson remained pending. If anyone has information about Sean or the people involved, please share what is known.