On a summer night in Middle River, Maryland, the life of 13-year-old Ayeonna Watkins was tragically cut short. It was the evening of July 31, 2017, and Ayeonna, a Black female, was with a group of friends behind a 7-Eleven on Peterson Road. Shortly before midnight, an individual emerged from a nearby alley and opened fire on the group. The sudden eruption of gunfire, which some neighbors initially mistook for fireworks, struck Ayeonna multiple times in her upper and lower body.
She was pronounced dead at the scene. Two adult men who were with her were also shot, sustaining non-life-threatening injuries to their lower bodies.
The investigation that followed suggested that the shooting was a targeted act, though authorities believe Ayeonna was not the intended victim. Police reports indicated that the violence likely stemmed from an altercation that had occurred earlier in the evening between the suspects and another individual in Ayeonna's group. In the wake of the shooting, the community gathered for a vigil to mourn the young girl's death and to call for an end to gun violence. Her mother expressed her profound grief, lamenting that her daughter would never graduate or have children of her own.
In January 2018, Baltimore County police announced the arrests of two suspects in connection with the fatal shooting. Alphonso Frederick Smith III and Roger Lee-Austin Eastmond Jr., both 19 years old at the time, were taken into custody. They were subsequently charged with first-degree murder for the death of Ayeonna Watkins and two counts of attempted first-degree murder for the injuries sustained by the two men. Following their arrest, both suspects were held at the Baltimore County Department of Corrections.
