On the evening of December 17, 2015, in Knoxville, Tennessee, 15-year-old Zaevion William Dobson, a male sophomore and football player at Fulton High School, was on a porch with friends when gunfire erupted in their Lonsdale neighborhood. In a selfless act of heroism, he shielded three girls from the hail of bullets. Dobson was the only one struck and died from his injuries, while the girls he protected were unharmed.
His courageous act would later be recognized nationally, earning him the posthumous Arthur Ashe Courage Award.
The shooting was part of a series of gang-related violent acts that occurred that day. The initial incident involved the non-fatal shooting of Lisa Perry. Her son, Brandon Perry, along with several other men, then retaliated by driving to Dobson's neighborhood and randomly firing multiple times into the group on the porch. Tragically, Dobson and his friends, who had no gang affiliations, were mistakenly targeted. Later that same night, Brandon Perry was shot and killed in a separate, retaliatory shooting.
In the aftermath of the tragic event, an investigation led to the arrests of several individuals. Christopher Drone Bassett was apprehended the morning after the shooting. Richard Gregory Williams III and Kipling Deshawn Colbert Jr. were also identified as suspects and taken into custody. All three men were charged with first-degree murder in connection with Zaevion Dobson's death, along with multiple counts of attempted first-degree murder.
The legal proceedings culminated in a trial where a Knox County jury convicted the three men. Christopher Drone Bassett was found guilty of first-degree murder. Richard Gregory Williams III and Kipling Deshawn Colbert Jr. were found guilty of facilitation of first-degree murder. Following the convictions, Bassett was sentenced to life in prison. In a separate ruling, Williams and Colbert received sentences of over 100 years each for their roles in the shooting and other related charges.
