On the evening of November 19, 2018, a dispute that began earlier in the day at a basketball game in Clarksville, Tennessee, violently concluded in a hail of gunfire on Warfield Boulevard. Antorius Gallion, a 22-year-old African American male, was driving his vehicle, accompanied by his brother and a female passenger, when another car began to pursue them. Inside the chasing vehicle, a dark-colored Ford Taurus, were three men who had been involved in the earlier altercation. As the cars sped along the boulevard, occupants of the Taurus opened fire on Gallion's car.
The chase ended tragically near the intersection of Raleigh Court when Gallion was struck by the gunfire, causing him to lose control and his vehicle to crash. He was rushed to a Nashville hospital where he ultimately succumbed to his injuries. The female passenger sustained a back injury in the crash, while his brother, Antone Gallion, was unharmed.
The initial police response to what appeared to be a rollover accident quickly turned into a homicide investigation upon discovery of the bullet holes riddling the wrecked car.
Clarksville Police swiftly identified three suspects in the shooting: Vincent Bryan 'Rabbit' Merriweather, then 26, Cedric Stacker, 23, and Marques Lamarr 'Cheez' Kelly, 25. The investigation revealed that the shooting was not a random act of violence but the culmination of the earlier dispute. Stacker was apprehended just a few days after the fatal incident. Merriweather, however, remained at large and was placed on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Top 10 Most Wanted list before he eventually turned himself in to authorities in December 2018. Kelly, the third suspect, managed to evade capture for several months before he was arrested in Kentucky in May 2019 and later extradited to face charges in Montgomery County.
The legal process that followed brought a series of developments. In July 2021, both Merriweather and Stacker pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Merriweather pleaded guilty to facilitation of voluntary manslaughter and facilitation of aggravated assault, receiving an eight-year sentence for each to be served concurrently. Stacker pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and illegal weapon possession charges, resulting in a multi-year prison sentence. In a surprising turn, the investigation also led to charges against the victim's own brother. In August 2021, Antone Gallion was arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder, among other offenses, for his actions during the shootout, as investigators determined he had returned fire at the suspects' vehicle. During the hunt for the initial suspects, police also arrested Joe O'Neal, charging him as an accessory for assisting Merriweather in his attempt to hide from law enforcement.
