In the fading light of a Tuesday evening in late October, a life was cut tragically short on Fairburn Road in southwest Atlanta. It was just before 7 p.m. on October 31, 2017, when a single gunshot shattered the calm, forever altering the lives of two young friends. Inside a residence, 19-year-old Marshall Crowder was struck in the stomach by a bullet.
The male teenager was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital, but his wound proved to be fatal, and he was pronounced dead.
The initial hours of the investigation into Marshall's death pointed not to a malicious act, but to a devastating accident. Atlanta police investigators began to piece together the events that led to the fatal shooting. What emerged was a sorrowful tale of a friendly interaction gone horribly wrong. Authorities determined that the person who fired the weapon was a close friend of Marshall's, a 16-year-old boy whose name was not publicly released due to his age. The shooting was deemed accidental by law enforcement.
In the days that followed, the legal consequences of the tragic incident became clear. The 16-year-old friend was taken into custody and charged with involuntary manslaughter. The charge reflected the belief of the authorities that while the teenager did not intend to kill his friend, his actions were criminally negligent and led to Marshall's untimely death. The investigation continued as the community mourned the loss of a young man whose life had just begun.
