Shaneeka Michelle Smith, 33, a Black/African American woman, was shot and killed on May 28, 2025, in Wadesboro, North Carolina. Officers were called just after 8:35 p.m. to the Oak Hill Apartments on North Greene Street, where emergency crews pronounced Shaneeka Michelle Smith dead at the scene. Family told reporters she was a mother who stepped in to shield her child as gunfire erupted while children were outside playing.
The shooting drew a rapid, multi-agency response after a flurry of 911 calls reporting shots fired around 8:38 p.m. at the complex. When police and deputies arrived, they found that another woman had also been struck by gunfire and survived; her identity was not immediately released as she received medical care. The location, timeline, and the account of a second victim were detailed by local authorities in early reports.
Within hours, investigators focused on a single suspect: 20-year-old Kea’yon Dorrell Richardson of Wadesboro. A first-degree murder warrant was issued, and on May 29, 2025, Richardson was arrested across the state line in Cheraw, South Carolina, after a manhunt that involved Wadesboro police, the Anson County Sheriff’s Office, the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. Authorities said Richardson was taken into custody the next day and held without bond in the Anson County Jail while the homicide investigation continued.
Neighbors and loved ones described chaos as shots rang out near the apartments while families were outside. Relatives of Shaneeka Michelle Smith, 33, recounted her final act as protective and selfless, emphasizing that she “should still be here with her children,” a sentiment echoed by her mother in interviews as the community mourned and demanded accountability.
In the days that followed, memorial pages and funeral notices confirmed the identity and age of Shaneeka Michelle Smith, 33, and recorded the date and city of her death as May 28, 2025, in Wadesboro. Community tributes and gun-violence databases added her name to the record of lives lost, preserving her memory while the criminal case moved forward against the accused gunman.
