2 Sentenced In Mistaken Identity Gang Murder: DA

ATLANTA, GA — Two gang members have been sentenced after being convicted of murder in the shooting death of 24-year-old Shanna Smith, according to a release from the Fulton County District Attorney. The release says the murder was a case of mistaken identity.

Matthew Larkins, 37, and Travon Mack, 27, were convicted of seven charges including murder and participating in street gang activity. They will each serve a life sentence plus 25 years, according to a release from the DA.

On Aug. 4, 2016, Larkins and Mack, alongside Darien Sherry, 28, Richard Ash, 25, and Dejon Fuller, 27, went to the 1700 block of Hadlock Street SW in Atlanta, where one of their Clayton County gang members was shot the day earlier, the release says. All they knew about their target was that they drove a dark-colored BMW sedan and lived off Hadlock Street, the release says.

Around that time, Shanna Smith was finishing her overnight shift in the Union City Amazon warehouse. She agreed to drive a coworker home that day who happened to live on Hadlock Street SW where the five were waiting.

Smith drove her coworker home in her BMW. She dropped her coworker off and started to drive off. That's when Larkins, Mack, Sherry, Ash and Fuller began shooting, the release says.

Smith's car ended up in a nearby ditch. She had been killed by a single bullet wound to the side of her head.

When Atlanta detectives arrived, they found Smith behind the wheel of the BMW, alongside 43 shell casings fired from two AR-15 rifles, a .380 caliber gun, a .45 caliber gun, a 9mm gun and a .25 caliber gun. The suspects had run away.

Fuller had accidentally dropped his cellphone at the murder scene, the DA said, so detectives were able to track him down. He implicated the other four, the release says.

Investigators corroborated Fuller's story through phone records and found that Larkins and Mack had previous convictions in Clayton County for a violation of the Controlled Substances Act and burglary, respectively.

"Gang violence has no logical boundaries. It touches gang members, their families, and as we witnessed in this case, innocent victims. During this incident, an innocent woman, not connected with any gang or criminal activity, was shot down while driving her own vehicle on her way home from work, simply because a group of gang members misidentified her car," District Attorney Paul Howard said in the release.

Larkins and Mack were convicted of murder, felony murder, participation in criminal street gang activity, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, first degree criminal damage to property, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Their sentencing is Monday, Oct. 28.

Ash was tried before the same jury as Larkins and Mack, but the jury hung on his case. He will be tried again.

Fuller testified for the state, and his case will be determined later, the release says.

Sherry is in a coma at Grady Memorial Hospital, the release says, for an unrelated accident. He's not expected to survive.