Charles Kupidlowski, 36, a White/Caucasian male from Harrington, Delaware, was killed on the afternoon of March 16, 2023, after a confrontation on Reeves Crossing Road in Felton. Delaware State Police said troopers were called to the 200 block of Reeves Crossing Road at about 4:17 p.m. for a reported shooting. When they arrived, they found Kupidlowski lying in the roadway with gunshot wounds to his upper body.
Emergency medical personnel tried to treat him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators later identified the suspected shooter as Steven M. Smith, a 36-year-old man from Centreville, Maryland. Police said Smith and Kupidlowski had an ongoing dispute, and that the conflict turned deadly when Smith confronted Kupidlowski. According to later prosecution information, Smith approached Kupidlowski while driving his pickup truck outside a home on Reeves Crossing Road and opened fire from the moving vehicle before fleeing the area. Early reports said the shooting involved a rifle and that Smith fled back toward Maryland after the attack.
Smith was taken into custody in Maryland soon after the shooting. Delaware authorities initially said the suspect had been identified and arrested in Maryland while the Homicide Unit continued investigating. After extradition proceedings, Smith was returned to Delaware, where Delaware State Police formally charged him with Kupidlowski's murder in April 2023.
The case moved through Kent County Superior Court and ended with a guilty plea rather than a trial. On June 17, 2024, Smith pleaded guilty to Murder Second Degree and Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony. He was immediately sentenced to 35 years in prison, followed by descending levels of probation. Prosecutors described the sentence as the result of the investigation into Kupidlowski's 2023 murder in Felton, bringing the case to a close more than a year after the roadside shooting.
