In the Greater Ville neighborhood of St. Louis, on the afternoon of May 10, 2023, Andrew Smith, a 56-year-old male, was fatally shot on the porch of his residence. Police were dispatched to the 4000 block of Kennerly Avenue around 1:10 p.m. following reports of a shooting. Upon their arrival, they discovered Smith suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Emergency medical services pronounced him dead at the scene.
A one-year-old boy who was also on the porch at the time of the incident sustained minor abrasions, believed to be from flying debris, but did not require medical treatment.
The subsequent homicide investigation led to the identification and arrest of a suspect, 23-year-old Jay'shaun Payton. According to court documents, surveillance footage showed a silver Chrysler 300 pulling up near the scene. Two individuals, one of whom matched Payton's description, exited the vehicle and walked off-camera, at which point shots were fired. The two people were then seen running back to the car and driving away. Investigators found Payton's fingerprints at a separate but connected shooting scene, and Payton acknowledged that he owned a Chrysler 300.
Payton was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with Andrew Smith's death. However, the case took a turn when a grand jury failed to indict him, leading to the dismissal of the charges. Grand jury proceedings are confidential, so the specific reasons for their decision remain undisclosed. Payton's attorney asserted that there was a lack of evidence to connect his client to the crime. The defense attorney highlighted that while his client did own a Chrysler 300, there was no confirmation it was the same vehicle at the scene, and it lacked the specific blemishes that witnesses had described. Furthermore, it was argued that surveillance footage from that day showed Payton in different attire than the perpetrator and that he had no passengers in his car. The case remains unresolved.
