Derrick Baker Jr., a 22-year-old Black man, was remembered by his mother as someone who died as innocent as he was born. In court, his mother, Nacomba Smith, said, "I love my son," and spoke of the years she spent trying to protect him from the kind of violence that ultimately took his life. She said she wanted accountability for his death and for people to understand the gravity of their actions.
On the night of October 3, 2024, Derrick was an innocent bystander at a fast mart on Tom
Hunter Road in Charlotte, North Carolina. According to prosecutors, the violence began with an argument between two groups on a Blue Line light rail train. After getting off at the Tom Hunter Road station around 10:00 p.m., one group went to the store. From across the street, members of the other group opened fire toward the business. Derrick was caught in the crossfire and fatally shot.
When Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers arrived, they found Derrick deceased at the scene. The shooting left two other people wounded. Shortly after the initial call, police found a second person nearby on North Tryon Street with life-threatening injuries; this person was shot in the chest but survived. About an hour and a half later, a third victim arrived at a local hospital with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.
The investigation quickly led to two arrests. The day after the shooting, on October 4, CMPD's Violent Criminal Apprehension Team arrested a 17-year-old suspect, Marquavis Spencer. A second suspect, Jamotis Watkins, was also identified and taken into custody as a co-defendant in the case.
In court, Nacomba Smith told one of her son's killers, "The decision you make, it kills other people. I am walking death." Marquavis Spencer pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for Derrick's death and to assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill for the person who was shot in the chest. He was sentenced to serve between 13 and 16 years in prison. As of May 2026, his co-defendant, Jamotis Watkins, was awaiting arraignment.
