In the early hours of July 5, 2023, the life of 14-year-old Xavier Cordei Maddox of Salisbury, Maryland, was tragically cut short. The young Black/African American male was attending a Fourth of July block party on Chippewa Boulevard, near Kiowa Avenue, when gunfire erupted just after midnight. Maddox sustained a gunshot wound to the head and was rushed to TidalHealth Peninsula Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The chaotic scene saw six other individuals suffer non-life-threatening injuries in what authorities described as a mass shooting incident at a gathering of 300 to 400 people.
The investigation into the shooting, which was believed to be possibly gang-related, led to multiple arrests. In August 2023, authorities arrested 22-year-old Kairee Daquan Vanlandingham in connection with the shooting. Evidence collected during a search warrant linked him to the incident, and he reportedly admitted to firing a gun. Vanlandingham, a convicted felon prohibited from possessing firearms, was initially charged with first-degree assault, various firearm offenses, and reckless endangerment. By September, a grand jury indicted him on 59 counts, including first-degree murder.
Further investigation led to the conviction of Antravon Harmon, 28, who was sentenced to 258 years in prison for his role in the shooting. Prosecutors stated that Harmon and an accomplice armed themselves with handguns and confronted Maddox before opening fire into the crowd, instigating a gunfight. The incident was linked to an ongoing gang conflict. Another individual, 17-year-old J'Shawn Drayton, was also sentenced to life in prison with all but 40 years suspended after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in Maddox's death. A search connected to the investigation also resulted in the arrest of 20-year-old Mykii Lee Sellers on drug and weapons charges.
