In Fort Valley, Georgia, on a Saturday in late February of 2018, a family dispute at the Indian Oaks apartment complex on East Church Street ended in tragedy. Twenty-year-old Dalvin Kentrell Smith, a male from Marshallville, was fatally shot during an altercation with a relative, Corey Darnell McKinney Jr. The disagreement between the two men escalated, leading to a physical confrontation.
The situation reportedly began with Smith threatening to cause bodily harm to McKinney before pushing him into his apartment. Witnesses at the scene overheard McKinney telling Smith to leave his residence just before the sound of gunshots filled the air. Smith was struck multiple times in the upper torso and was pronounced dead at the scene around 12:30 p.m. on February 24, 2018.
Following the shooting, law enforcement took 20-year-old Corey D. McKinney of Fort Valley into custody. He was initially charged with aggravated assault, but the charges were later upgraded to include murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. McKinney maintained that he shot Smith after his relative refused to leave his apartment and continued to threaten him.
In court, McKinney pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to serve 20 years, with the first 12 years to be spent in prison. The remainder of his sentence is to be served on probation. The resolution of the case brought a close to the legal proceedings, leaving both families to grapple with the consequences of a dispute that turned deadly.
