Family and friends remembered Curtis Henry as a hard-working, humorous, and charming man who made friends everywhere he went. His mother, Theresa Wright, said he made her the woman she was, and his girlfriend described him as a protective and great dad. Curtis Henry, a 44-year-old Black/African American male from Verona, New York, was also a loving and dedicated brother and uncle.
On the evening of September 29, 2023, Henry became involved in an argument with a man he knew, 47-year-old James Beard of Utica. The dispute took place around 8 p.m. on the 100 block of Boyce Avenue in Utica. The confrontation escalated, and according to prosecutors, Henry was the one who first introduced a gun into the argument. The situation turned deadly when Beard shot Henry at least once. Emergency responders transported Henry to St. Elizabeth's Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Following the shooting, the Utica Police Department launched an investigation.
With assistance from the METRO SWAT team, which included members of the Oneida County Sheriff's Office and the New Hartford Police Department, authorities located Beard. He was taken into custody without incident early the next morning.
Beard was initially charged with second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree manslaughter as part of an agreed-upon sentence.
At Beard’s sentencing hearing in May 2024, Henry’s mother confronted him in court. “For someone as old as Mr. Beard to pick up a gun and shoot him with intent to kill, I think that was a cowardly move,” she said. “Your title for me, Mr. James Beard: the coward.” A statement from Henry’s girlfriend, read aloud in court, lamented all the life milestones he would now miss. Beard turned to the family and apologized before he was sentenced by a judge to three to nine years in state prison.
