On the evening of April 29, 2019, in Memphis, Tennessee, a 37-year-old Black / African American man named Rayner Antonio Smart died, though the circumstances surrounding his death are shrouded in conflicting public information. One account suggests a violent end, a narrative of a life cut short by gunfire. In this version of events, Memphis Police officers were called to a residence in the 700 block of North Dunlap Street to investigate a shooting.
Inside, they discovered Rayner Smart suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Despite the arrival of paramedics, he was pronounced dead at the scene. This incident was classified as a homicide, and at the time, authorities reported that no suspect had been identified and no arrests had been made.
However, a different and equally troubling narrative of that same day exists. This account places Rayner Antonio Smart in the Bunker Hill neighborhood, where he was taken into custody by Memphis police who were responding to a disturbance call. According to this version, shortly after his arrest, Smart experienced a medical emergency. He was transported to Methodist University Hospital, where he ultimately died. This in-custody death prompted an investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to determine the events leading up to the medical crisis and whether the actions of the arresting officers contributed to his death. The investigation also reportedly looked into allegations that Smart had been involved in a kidnapping.
The available information does not reconcile these two disparate accounts of Rayner Antonio Smart's final hours. It is unclear if these are two separate incidents involving individuals with the same name or if there is a significant discrepancy in the reporting of a single event. To date, there is no publicly available information detailing the suspects or any arrests in connection with the shooting on North Dunlap Street. Similarly, the findings of the TBI's investigation into his death after a medical emergency in police custody have not been publicly released, leaving the question of accountability in that scenario unanswered. The starkly different narratives leave a void in the story of Rayner Antonio Smart's death, with no clear resolution or justice for his family.
