On the evening of February 7, 2021, Dajae Davis, a 22-year-old female, was in her Memphis, Tennessee, apartment with her 2-year-old daughter when her life was tragically cut short. A violent dispute that erupted between two couples in a neighboring apartment culminated in a gunshot that would have devastating and unintended consequences.
The altercation next door involved another woman and Marveona Roper, who, according to investigators, threatened the woman with a knife and injured the
woman’s cousin. The conflict escalated when Roper’s boyfriend, Cliff Swift, fired a gun at the other woman’s boyfriend. That shot missed its intended target and instead struck the woman in her lower leg. As the man fled the apartment and into a breezeway, Swift fired another shot.
Tragically, this second bullet penetrated the wall of Dajae Davis's adjacent apartment, striking her in the chest. When police were investigating the initial fight, they discovered a bullet hole in the neighboring apartment's wall and found Davis deceased inside. Her young daughter, who was right beside her, was miraculously unharmed.
In the aftermath of the investigation, a grand jury indicted both Cliff Swift, 20, and Marveona Roper, 19. Swift was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and employment of a firearm in the commission of a dangerous felony. Roper was indicted on two counts of aggravated assault for her role in the initial confrontation that led to the fatal shooting.
