Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Columbus man was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 41 months in prison for crimes related to a 2018 summer shooting that involved 5-year-old and 10-year-old victims.

Keveante Deshawn Smoot, 28, pleaded guilty in May 2020 to illegally possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon.

According to court documents, on August 11, 2018, Columbus Division of Police officers responded to Weinland Park on Summit Street on a call for service regarding several shots fired at the park. 

Two of the reported victims were adults and two were children, ages five and 10. Smoot was identified as a victim in the shooting, and was driven to a local hospital by an associate to receive medical care for a gunshot wound to his arm.

The associate’s car was later searched as evidence related to the shooting, and Smoot’s DNA was discovered on a 9mm pistol in the car.

Further, according to an affidavit in Smoot’s case, jail emails and calls between Smoot and others state that Smoot possessed a firearm at the Weinland Park shooting and that he fired shots.

David M. DeVillers, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Jonathan McPherson, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan announced the sentence imposed today by U.S. District Court Judge Sarah D. Morrison. Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan J.C. Grey and Special Assistant United States Attorney Christopher N. St. Pierre are representing the United States in this case.

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