LOUISVILLE, KY – Two men behind a fatal drive-by shooting that took place at a school bus stop in Louisville, Kentucky, back in 2021that claimed the life of a 16-year-old boy and injured others learned their fate in court earlier this summer, with the duo sentenced to decades behind bars for the senseless act.
On September 22, 2021, 16-year-old Tyree Leshawn Smith made his way to the bus stop much like any other morning in order to attend Eastern High School in Louisville, with his mother recalling how she’d seen him walk out the door that very morning. Shortly thereafter, Smith’s mother would receive a harrowing phone call from her teenage son, with him reportedly telling her, “Mama, I feel like I’m dead.”
What occurred at the bus stop near West Chestnut and Dr. W.J. Hodge streets that morning was a drive-by shooting carried out by then 15-year-olds Demaurion Moore and Mekhi Cable, which left Smith dead and a 13-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl injured. Authorities would later learn that Smith wasn’t even a target in the drive-by shooting.
Moore and Cable had reportedly stolen the vehicle used in the drive-by, which said stolen vehicle was a crucial piece of evidence used in convicting the murderous duo. Two months later, the same suspects would be implicated in the fatal Thanksgiving morning shooting of Cable’s 15-year-old cousin, Cortez Duncan Jr. According to reports, Cable has since accepted a plea deal in Duncan’s killing for a manslaughter charge in exchange for a ten-year sentence.
With regard to Smith’s murder, following the two being convicted this past June, Cable accepted an expedited sentencing deal for 35 years in prison with no eligibility for probation during his sentence. Moore was reportedly offered the same deal, but declined, resulting in a subsequent sentencing hearing where the judge handed down a 60-year sentence.
In the wake of the trial, Smith’s mother said of the resolution, “It's been five long years and, you know, I feel like they get a chance to see their child. I don't get a chance to see Ty. The last time I physically saw my child alive, he was on the ground at his bus stop. You know, they do get to visit their kid in jail and talk to him on the phone, we don't get that. At the end of the day, there's no winners.”
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