In the early morning hours of May 9, 2017, the life of 41-year-old Ahmid Salem Hinton, a Black/African American male, was tragically cut short on Wheeling Island, West Virginia. The shooting occurred around 1:40 a.m. near the intersection of South Penn and Virginia streets. Responding to the sound of gunshots, police discovered Hinton on the sidewalk, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Though conscious when officers arrived, Hinton would later succumb to his injuries during emergency surgery at the Ohio Valley Medical Center around 5 a.m.
Before he died, Hinton was able to provide a crucial piece of information to the police, stating that the person who shot him was "D.D. did, man." This statement would become a pivotal lead in the investigation. According to Hinton, the shooter had gotten out of a vehicle, approached him, fired several times, and then fled in the same car.
Hinton told the officers at the scene that he did not recognize the shooter.
The investigation into Hinton's murder led authorities to identify two brothers as the primary suspects: Jordan Davis III and DeAndre Davis, the latter of whom was known by the nickname "D.D." A possible motive for the shooting emerged when Hinton's brother, William, who was present at the scene when police arrived, suggested he might have been the intended target. He believed the shooting was in retaliation for a prior altercation he had with the Davis brothers' uncle at a local bar.
Jordan Davis III was arrested in late July 2017, while his brother, DeAndre Davis, evaded capture for several months before being apprehended on October 31, 2017. In a turn of events, Jordan Davis III entered an Alford plea to a charge of second-degree murder. This type of plea allowed him to maintain his innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence to likely secure a conviction at trial. On October 11, 2018, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison for his role in the death of Ahmid Hinton. During the sentencing, prosecutors presented video evidence, including surveillance footage of Hinton after he was shot and audio from a police car camera that captured his moans of pain. Despite the plea, Davis maintained his innocence at the sentencing, stating, "I didn't kill him." His brother, DeAndre Davis, was also facing a murder charge in connection with the incident.
