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In Spartanburg County, South Carolina, a courtroom recently became the stage for a tragic family drama, as it was decided that 17-year-old Deondre Smith-Jefferson would remain behind bars. The teenager is accused of fatally shooting his stepfather, Lidarrell Cheeks, during a heated argument earlier this week.
The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office received an urgent call on the morning of March 23, at precisely 6:24 a.m. Responding officers rushed to Thomas Alley in the Moore community, where they were met with a grim scene. There, they discovered 32-year-old Cheeks, who had been critically wounded by a gunshot. Despite their efforts, Cheeks succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the location.
Smith-Jefferson was swiftly apprehended and now faces serious charges related to the incident. The bond hearing provided a deeper insight into the events leading up to the shooting, as Anthony Leibert from the Spartanburg County Solicitor’s Office shared details from the suspect’s mother’s account of that fateful morning.
As the community grapples with this devastating event, the case continues to unfold, with many seeking answers and justice for a family torn apart by violence.
- Murder
- Possession of a weapon during a crime
- Unlawful possession of a firearm
During the bond hearing, Anthony Leibert, with the Spartanburg County Solicitor’s Office, relayed parts of the summary the suspect’s mother gave to police the morning of the shooting.
According to Smith-Jefferson’s mother, her husband, Cheeks, walked her outside to her car as she prepared to leave for work. She told her son he needed to get an Uber to work instead of their usual routine of her dropping him off.
Cheeks turned to walk back inside, and once he was in, she heard a loud noise.
“She went back into the residence and saw [her husband] on the floor. She said it had been a good morning; there was no arguing going on,” Leibert said. “She does not know why her son shot her husband.”
After the hearing, 7NEWS spoke exclusively to the victim’s family, who told us they’re living a nightmare.
April Watkins, Lidarrell Cheeks’ aunt, said they hoped to hear the judge deny bond, but it doesn’t change that they lost someone.
“We [weren’t] expecting to wake up yesterday morning at the crack of dawn to nobody saying that Lidarrell had passed away. I got the call, on the way to taking my kids to school, that I needed to turn back a while because of the situation,” April Watkins, Lidarrell Cheeks’ aunt, said.
Cheeks’ mother, Jacqueline Williams, said her son is survived by his four children and will be missed by all of his family.
“He’ll never call me and say ‘Ma, you look good, keep doing what you’re doing.’ I won’t hear his car ride by my house anymore and call and say, ‘Lidarrell, is that you?’” Williams said. “My son was a person, too. Yeah, he did things; he wasn’t perfect, but he was a person.”
When discussing her experience over the past 24 hours, Williams said there is a lot of discussion on social media about what happened and the circumstances that led to her son’s death.
Investigators said the shooting stemmed from a family dispute and confirmed they’ve responded to the house where the victim and suspect lived for domestic disputes in the past.
During the hearing, the solicitor’s office presented the judge with past family court documents, but they will be filed for Smith-Jefferson’s future hearings.
The Smith-Jefferson’s first court appearance is May 21 at 9 a.m.