KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Knoxville Police Department said Thursday that two people were arrested over a 24-hour period for a December 2022 shooting death.
They said Rodney Smartt, 22, and Ayla Gilbert, 24, were taken into custody on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated robbery and especially aggravated kidnapping in the shooting death of Demetrius Bomar.
They said on Dec. 7, 2022, Bomar was shot at a home on Lay Avenue. They said that while en route after receiving calls about the shooting, officers were flagged down by two different cars with gunshot victims inside. Bomar was one of the victims and was pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital. The other victim, Lamar Harshaw, was also taken to the hospital.
KPD previously said that the incident began when Harshaw was confronted by two men at a home on Lansing Avenue, in what they said appeared to be an attempted robbery. They said it continued to a home on Lay Avenue where both Bomar and Harshaw were shot.
They said Bomar and Harshaw drove from the scene in their cars before stopping at an intersection, where officers found them.
They said Gilbert was found and arrested by the U.S. Marshals and the Smoky Mountain Fugitive Task Force on Wednesday, at a home on Dinwiddie Street. They said Smartt was found and arrested on Thursday in the area around Walter P. Taylor Homes by the same task force, as well as the Knox County Sheriff's Office Narcotics Unit and Retail Crime Unit.
They said Smartt also had a stolen gun when he was arrested.
