In the early morning hours of March 15, 2022, a sense of grim finality descended upon Perrine Street in Auburn, New York. Outside the familiar neighborhood establishment of Swifty's Tavern, 37-year-old John Wesley Smith III was found by the Auburn Police Department around 1:40 a.m., his life tragically cut short by a gunshot wound. The initial moments of the investigation were marked by a frantic search for witnesses, as several individuals had scattered from the scene before authorities could arrive, leaving behind a puzzle for law enforcement to piece together.
The investigation quickly zeroed in on a person of interest, a woman named Shameek Marie Copes, who was also known by the aliases “Skrizzy,” “Scrappy,” and “Sckrap.” As police delved deeper, Copes, with known connections to North Carolina, Texas, and Atlanta, Georgia, transitioned from a person of interest to the primary suspect in the shooting death of Smith. A warrant for her arrest on a charge of second-degree murder was issued, setting off a multi-state search for her whereabouts. The pressure of the manhunt eventually led Copes to surrender to authorities in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where she turned herself in to the local police department.
Following her extradition back to New York, the legal proceedings against Shameek Copes commenced in January 2023. During the trial, it was revealed that the fatal encounter involved a 9 mm ghost gun, and that Copes had fired three rounds into John Wesley Smith III at point-blank range. After the shooting, she fled the scene and discarded the weapon in a nearby storm drain before leaving the state. It also came to light that two other individuals faced charges in connection to the incident, with one of them having already entered a guilty plea. Despite maintaining her innocence throughout the trial, the jury found Copes guilty of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. In April 2023, a Cayuga Court Judge sentenced her to the maximum term of 25 years to life in prison, bringing a somber conclusion to the case. Her attorney has stated an intention to appeal the conviction.
