PHOENIX — A Silent Witness reward still sits unclaimed for a 24-year-old case that’s yet to be solved in Phoenix.
It’s a homicide case from 1999. The question: Who fired the bullet that killed 14-year-old Shannon Smith in June of 1999?
Smith was in the backyard of her home near Central Avenue and Camelback Road in Phoenix when a bullet, shot from somewhere else, came down and killed her.
“Shannon was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Officer Kristopher Babros with the Peoria Police Department said. “And it was devastating.”
At the time it was a misdemeanor to negligently discharge a weapon in Arizona. But Smith’s parents worked to change that and in 2000, Shannon’s Law was passed. Shannon’s Law made firing a gun into the air a class six felony that can bring a sentence of prison time.
Babros said while he hasn’t personally seen a case in Peoria, it does happen around Arizona and around the country.
Just a few years ago it was New Year’s Eve in Phoenix that had police responding to calls of shots fired into the air. Those incidents led to a three-year-old boy getting injured.
In Smith’s case, the weapon and the person who fired it haven’t been caught. But it’s believed the bullet came from half a mile away.
“Don’t shoot a gun into the air,” Babros said. “Because whatever goes up has to come down and with this case, unfortunately, it didn’t end well.”
Now, Smith’s case serves as a reminder that celebratory gunfire, whether around New Year’s Eve, the Fourth of July, or any day, has consequences.
“Stay with the fireworks that are on the ground, enjoy time with your family and leave the guns holstered,” Babros said.
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