Gwendolyn Faye Smith was a mother, sister, aunt, and friend to many in her community. A 44-year-old White woman from Louisville, Kentucky, she was raising two children: a daughter, Raegan, who was entering her junior year of college, and a son, Evan, a high school freshman active in football and baseball. Her family remembered her death as a senseless and tragic loss.
On the evening of Friday, June 30, 2023, first responders were called to a home in the 100 block of Cambridge Drive in
the Southside neighborhood for a reported overdose. They found Gwendolyn Smith and rushed her to a local hospital, but she died about an hour later. The next day, an autopsy revealed the true cause of death: she had been shot in the chest.
The investigation showed that the fatal shot had been fired from inside the house. According to police, Charles Webster was in the basement holding a gun when he fired it. The bullet traveled upward through the ceiling and a light fixture, striking Smith, who was in the room directly above. A witness who was in the same room with Smith told police she heard the shot, went downstairs, and found Webster holding the gun. He reportedly said that he did not mean for the gun to go off.
Police arrested 43-year-old Charles Webster on Saturday afternoon. He admitted to officers that he had accidentally fired the gun that hit the light fixture before striking Smith. He was charged with reckless homicide.
Webster appeared in Jefferson County Court the following Monday and pleaded not guilty. His bond was set at $20,000, and he was to be placed on home incarceration. In the wake of the tragedy, Smith’s sister-in-law started a fundraiser to help with funeral costs and future educational expenses for her two children, as Smith did not have a life insurance policy. As of July 2023, the case against Webster was proceeding through the court system.
