On October 28, 2017, 26-year-old male Donovan Lavell Smith was fatally shot in Saint Joseph, Missouri. He had traveled to the area to attend a funeral for a relative and was standing outside a residence near 724 North 23rd Street when the violence occurred. A vehicle approached the location, and a passenger inside opened fire with a handgun. Smith was struck by at least one bullet during the drive-by attack.
Despite his attempts to flee the immediate scene, he succumbed to his gunshot wounds and died shortly after the incident.
Police investigation into the shooting identified 19-year-old Khaury El-Amin as the primary suspect. Authorities determined that the motive for the violence stemmed from a financial dispute between the two men. Testimony later revealed that Smith had borrowed $300 from El-Amin to pay for a birthday party for his daughter but had failed to repay the debt. This unresolved loan escalated into the lethal confrontation when El-Amin spotted Smith outside the home in St. Joseph.
El-Amin was arrested and charged in connection with the homicide. He faced trial in Buchanan County, where prosecutors presented evidence of his involvement in the drive-by shooting. In October 2018, a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action. During the sentencing hearing in December 2018, Circuit Judge Patrick Robb denied a motion for a new trial. Khaury El-Amin, then 20 years old, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder charge, with an additional consecutive sentence of 25 years for the armed criminal action conviction.
