Mariah Smith

On the evening of August 24, 2023, Mariah Smith, a 12-year-old Black girl, was at her family’s home on NW Long Street in Lake City, Florida. She was sitting on the couch doing homework and watching cartoons when, just after 9 p.m., the house was sprayed with gunfire. Twenty-five rounds were fired into the home, and one struck Mariah. Officers from the Lake City Police Department arrived and rendered first aid along with paramedics, but she succumbed to her injuries.

Investigators soon determined that Mariah was not the intended target. The shooting was an act of retaliation for a fight that had occurred earlier that day at a local high school involving Mariah’s older brother, Todrion Jenkins. Her brother and grandmother, Deadra Filer, were also in the house at the time of the shooting but were not physically harmed. The investigation led police to identify three teenage suspects.

The first arrest came on August 28, 2023, when police took 14-year-old Jatarious Rashad Fluellen II into custody. On October 11, 2023, a second suspect, 15-year-old Jayden Tyler Burch, was arrested in Miami Gardens where he had relocated after the shooting. The third and final suspect, 17-year-old Matthew Rice, was arrested in February 2024. All three were charged with murder and attempted murder and were tried as adults.

In August 2025, a jury found Jayden Burch guilty of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. He was sentenced to life in prison in October 2025. That same month, Matthew Rice was also convicted of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder. In November 2025, he was sentenced to life in prison for the murder, plus an additional 15 years for the attempted murders.

In a related incident, a 55-year-old woman named Lucille Simpson was arrested in October 2023 and charged with aggravated assault after she allegedly threatened Mariah’s family with a firearm during a dispute. The State Attorney’s Office dropped the charges against Simpson in December 2023, citing insufficient evidence. The final suspect in Mariah's murder, Jatarious Fluellen, reached a plea deal. In August 2026, he pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to attempted second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

To honor Mariah’s memory, the Lake City Council unanimously voted to rename NW Long Street as "Mariah Reginae Smith Forever 12 Memorial Street." Her mother, Todneisha Filer, said after one of the guilty verdicts, "It doesn’t bring my child back, but I can look for peace now. She can rest now." The case was closed with the final sentencing in August 2026.