Da’Meko Taborn, a 16-year-old Black male, was a teenager whose death brought more than 200 people together for a balloon release in his memory in Springfield, Ohio. Known to friends and family as Meko, he was remembered by a local pastor as an inspiring young man. “If there would have been anybody that I thought would be here, that we would be releasing balloons and saying farewell, it wouldn’t have been Da’Meko,” the pastor said.
Family and friends gathered where he died to share memories of a life they felt was taken far too soon.
On the afternoon of May 14, 2025, around 2:25 p.m., Springfield police were called to the corner of South Limestone Street and East Euclid Avenue for a car crash. They arrived to find a black SUV had struck a house, and inside was Da’Meko. He had suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene. The shooting was one of three in the city that day, though investigators stressed that Da’Meko’s death was not connected to an earlier homicide. However, they did believe it was linked to another shooting that occurred just 20 minutes later a few blocks away, in the 200 block of East Euclid Avenue.
In that related incident, police found a man with multiple gunshot wounds who was transported to a hospital and later released. The investigation into Da’Meko’s killing soon led authorities out of state. On July 3, 2025, the U.S. Marshals Service arrested 18-year-old Darius Q. Lewis in Hamden, Connecticut. Lewis was identified as the man who had been shot and wounded shortly after Da’Meko was killed. He was indicted on two counts of murder, felonious assault, and discharging a firearm on or near prohibited premises. Lewis waived extradition and was returned to Springfield to stand trial.
Darius Lewis went on trial in October 2026. Prosecutors argued that Da’Meko’s death occurred during a drug deal that escalated into a robbery and then a fatal shooting. The defense, however, maintained that Lewis had acted in self-defense. His attorney argued that Lewis did not fire the first shots and was forced to shoot back during a shootout to save his own life. After hearing both sides, the jury found Darius Lewis not guilty of murder.
Following the acquittal, Da’Meko Taborn’s homicide remains unsolved as of October 2026. The investigation is ongoing, and authorities ask that anyone with information contact Springfield police investigators at (937) 324-7685 or [email protected].
