Thursday, July 11, 2024–11:14 a.m.

-John Bailey, Rome News-Tribune-

A jury determined that a Rome man acted in self-defense in a 2023 shooting at the Callier Forest Apartments and found him not guilty on several charges stemming from that incident.

Floydell Quinchard Smith, 33, has been acquitted on murder and other charges stemming from the shooting death of 30-year-old Te’Vian Markez Williams Sr. on June 27, 2023.

Evidence in the trial showed that there had been an earlier altercation at the Hi-Tech gas station near the apartment complex where Williams had aggressively approached Smith.

During the trial, Smith testified that Williams flashed a gun during that argument and he left the area to get back to his apartment at Callier Forest. A short while later, surveillance footage showed that Williams rapidly pulled his car into the apartment complex and then approached Smith’s apartment.

Smith testified he was speaking with a person when they noticed Williams coming. He took a rifle from the person and opened fire, hitting Williams, because he was in fear for his life.

Smith’s attorney, Luke Martin with the Bratcher-Martin Law Firm, said his client had been placed in the unfortunate position where he was forced to shoot Williams to protect himself.

“My client felt, regrettably, that he had to do what he had to do,” Martin said after the verdict was passed down Wednesday. “If this wasn’t self-defense, I don’t know what is.”

When police arrived at the scene, they found Williams shot in the upper leg and groin area and bleeding heavily. Smith fled and was arrested in Dayton, Ohio, in July 2023. He remained in jail during pre-trial proceedings.

Smith was also acquitted on aggravated assault charges filed because the bullets he fired during that altercation struck nearby apartments.