Deon Levonte King-Smith

In the pre-dawn hours of a Sunday morning in Pelham, Alabama, an argument over a cell phone escalated with fatal consequences. Deon Levonte King-Smith, a 32-year-old Black man from North Carolina, was shot and killed on March 5, 2023. The incident shattered the early morning quiet and left a family grieving a life cut tragically short.

Police received a 911 call around 4:45 a.m. reporting a shooting in the 100 block of Bishop Circle. When officers and paramedics from the Pelham Fire Department arrived, they found Deon Levonte King-Smith suffering from a gunshot wound. Despite their immediate life-saving efforts, he died at the scene.

Detectives with the Pelham Police Department launched a homicide investigation and learned that the shooting had occurred after a dispute over a phone. Investigators quickly identified a suspect in the killing and took him into custody.

Authorities arrested 39-year-old Nehemiah Scroggins and charged him with murder and menacing in connection with King-Smith's death. He was booked into the Shelby County Jail, where he was held without bond. As of March 2023, the case against Scroggins was pending in litigation.