Evan David Taylor, a 19-year-old Black male from Martinsburg, West Virginia, was killed in the early morning hours of February 13, 2026, in a shooting at University Heights Apartments on Hensel Drive in Shepherdstown. Taylor was a full-time student at Shepherd University, where he was studying business after graduating from Hedgesville High School. His obituary described him as deeply devoted to his family and friends, with interests ranging from travel and video games to golf, basketball, football, baseball, volleyball and snowboarding. He hoped to travel internationally and had been looking forward to an opportunity to study abroad.
The events leading to his death unfolded before dawn. At approximately 3:38 a.m., Jefferson County emergency dispatchers received a report of a shooting at the University Heights complex. The caller reported that Taylor was inside an apartment with multiple gunshot wounds and that the person believed responsible had fled from the area on foot.
Jefferson County sheriff's deputies and emergency personnel rushed to the complex and found Taylor inside. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses at the apartment complex gave investigators a description of the person who had fled, and that information was quickly circulated among responding law-enforcement agencies. The investigation soon extended onto nearby Shepherd University property. Shepherd University Police Officer Adam Letts reviewed campus surveillance cameras and spotted an individual matching the witness description entering university property on foot shortly after the shooting. Police continued following the person's movements through the university's camera system until the individual reached the H Lot parking area and was seen getting into a vehicle.
Officers Letts and Ricketts went to the parking area and detained the individual, identified by authorities as Travis Smith. Investigators said a loaded Glock handgun was recovered from Smith during the detention. Police then continued processing the shooting scene, interviewing witnesses and examining surveillance footage. Following that investigation, Smith was arrested and charged with murder in connection with Taylor's death. Public booking information identifies him more fully as Travis Darneil Smith and records his Jefferson County booking on February 13, the same day Taylor was killed; the booking entry lists a "MURDER-1" charge.
The rapid arrest was the result of cooperation among several agencies. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office led the investigation with assistance from Shepherd University Police, while the Charles Town, Ranson and Shepherdstown police departments also participated. Authorities additionally acknowledged assistance from the Martinsburg office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Jefferson County Emergency Services Agency. Shepherd University officials said the surveillance system allowed campus officers to follow the suspect's movements in real time and take the individual into custody, after which authorities said there was no continuing threat to the university community.
Investigators did not publicly disclose a motive in the immediate aftermath of the killing, and available reporting did not establish whether Taylor and Smith knew one another or explain what happened inside the apartment before the shots were fired. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office continued to describe the case as an active investigation and asked anyone with additional information to contact investigators. No additional suspect was identified in the reporting located, and Smith was the person publicly charged in Taylor's death.
Taylor's death reverberated through Shepherd University as news spread that a student had been killed just outside the campus. University leadership announced his death to students and employees, expressed condolences to his family, friends and classmates, and made counseling resources available to members of the university community. Away from the investigation, Taylor's family remembered a life centered on close relationships, humor, sports and plans for the future. His funeral service was scheduled for March 6, 2026, at the South Berkeley Chapel of Brown Funeral Homes in Inwood, with a private interment.
As of August 15, 2026, the online reporting located for the case documents Smith's arrest and murder charge but does not report that the prosecution has ended in a trial, guilty plea, acquittal or conviction. The publicly reported case therefore remains centered on the allegation against Smith; a criminal charge is an accusation, and guilt would have to be established through the court process.
