In the Park Hill neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky, on the afternoon of October 25, 2014, a young Black male named Cory Michael Crowe, aged 24, was fatally shot. He was discovered in the driver's seat of a car near the intersection of South 25th Street and Standard Avenue. First responders were called to the scene at 3:41 p.m., and he was pronounced dead at 4:08 p.m. In the same incident, his mother, Rose Smith, was critically wounded.
Cory was known to his loved ones as an ambitious and joyous young man. He was a father to a young son, Cory Michael Crowe, Jr., and had dreams of one day owning his own barber college. He was described as compassionate, outgoing, and generous. His death left a profound void in the lives of his family and friends.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Louisville Metro Police Department homicide detectives began their investigation. They received a call about shots fired and another report of a Black male seen running from the area. A K-9 unit was brought in to search for a suspect, and detectives went door-to-door interviewing potential witnesses. Despite these efforts, no arrests have been made in the case, and the homicide remains unsolved nearly a decade later. Cory's mother, Rose Smith, in honor of her son's memory, started a nonprofit organization called The ACE Project to support those impacted by gun violence and trauma.
