On a summer evening in Perry Hall, Maryland, the life of 20-year-old Nygel Allen-Lee Simmons was cut short by gunfire. On June 1, 2020, police responded to a call on Stillmeadow Road and found Simmons in his car with a gunshot wound to his upper body. Despite the immediate life-saving efforts of the officers, he was pronounced dead at the scene. The investigation that followed would quickly reveal that this was not a random act of violence, but a targeted shooting stemming from an ongoing
dispute.
Detectives determined that Nygel Simmons was parked on Stillmeadow Road at approximately 6:30 p.m. when he was approached by Sahmir Pasha Tahlib Smokes, also 20 years old. Smokes allegedly walked up to the vehicle and fired a shot, fatally wounding Simmons. He then fled the scene in a vehicle that was waiting for him on a nearby street. The swift response from law enforcement led to a traffic stop of the suspect's vehicle a short time later in Baltimore City.
Inside the vehicle were Sahmir Smokes and a driver. Smokes was taken into custody, and the following day he was charged with first-degree murder. He was held without bail pending a review hearing. The driver of the vehicle was also initially arrested but was later released without any charges after investigators concluded that they had no prior knowledge of the crime that had been committed. The incident left the community in mourning for the loss of a young man and grappling with the senseless violence that had unfolded on their streets.
