UPDATED: Murder suspect arrested at Ashland hotel
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 21, 2022
- Dashawn L. Evans
ASHLAND, Ky. — A Chesapeake man was arrested for murder on Monday afternoon for the fatal shooting of a neighbor on Sunday.
The incident began on Sunday afternoon when the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office got a call about a possible shooting at an apartment complex at 283 Private Drive 1831 Chesapeake.
When deputies and Lawrence County EMS arrived on the scene, a woman was found lying face up in the parking lot of the apartment complex. LCEMS began medical attention on the victim.
According to a press release, witnesses told deputies that the female victim, identified as Sharmin M. McAllister, 33, of 283 Private Drive 1831, Apt. 8, had gotten into an argument about a dog with Dashawn L. Evans, 34, of 283 Private Drive 1831, Apt. 7.
During the argument, Evans brandished a handgun and shot McAllister in the upper torso.
McAllister was pronounced dead at the scene by the Lawrence County Coroner’s Office.
Lawrence County Sheriff Jeff Lawless called the shooting sad and senseless.
He said the argument was over Evans’ dogs, and that “there had been bad blood between the neighbors for some time, but it escalated.”
He added that Evans had “apparently gotten into arguments with most of the neighbors there.”
“I don’t know if it was that the dogs weren’t being fed properly or whether they had pooped everywhere,” Lawless said. “Whatever it was, it is tragic that it escalated to death.”
Witnesses told deputies after the shooting, Evans fled the scene in a gray Nissan SUV.
The Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office said they had been tracking Evans since the shooting and were made aware that he had entered a room at the Delta by Marriott Hotel in downtown Ashland, Kentucky.
The sheriff’s office got in contact with the Ashland Police Department about Evans and his whereabouts.
The Ashland police department set up surveillance on the hotel room and on Monday afternoon, Evans was arrested without incident on a warrant for first-degree murder.
Evans is being held in the Boyd County Jail awaiting extradition proceedings.
Lawless said that it will be five or six days before Evans could be returned to Lawrence County and longer if he fights the extradition in court.
McAllister’s body was sent to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office for an autopsy.