On July 27, 2026, law enforcement officials in Unitedville announced a confirmed motive for a fatal weekend shooting that left one man dead and another seriously injured, bringing a key new development to an ongoing violent crime investigation. Twenty-year-old Kevon Anthony Alford, a local Unitedville resident, has been arraigned on four separate criminal charges connected to the attack: first-degree murder for the death of 25-year-old Denvoy Bartley, attempted murder for the shooting of Albert Bennett, and unlawful wounding and use of deadly force against Denvoy’s identical twin brother, Delroy Bartley.
The shooting unfolded around 8:34 p.m. on Saturday, as the two Bartley brothers traveled into Unitedville to help arrange final preparations for their mother’s upcoming birthday celebration. As the group gathered at the location, an armed gunman stepped out of dense, overgrown bushes nearby and immediately opened fire on the group, catching everyone off guard.
In an official press briefing, Assistant Superintendent of Police Stacy Smith outlined that ongoing investigative work has traced the attack back to a long-running conflict tied to the region’s illicit drug trade. Smith confirmed that in response to the high-profile shooting and rising community tensions, the department has boosted uniformed patrols across the neighborhood where the attack occurred and deployed a specialized tactical unit to prevent further outbreaks of violence and aid in the ongoing investigation.
A local neighbor and close friend of the Bartley family shared her harrowing account of the incident, recalling how she heard the rapid string of gunshots from her own home, with no idea at the time that people she considered close to her own family were the targets. “I heard the first shot go off, up toward the top of the yard,” she described in an interview. “Then it was just pop, pop, pop, one after another. After that, people were saying the gunman stood over one of the young men and fired again.”
Court records also show that Denvoy Bartley had previously been charged with the 2023 murder of 24-year-old Lionel Lee Budna, but the case against him was ultimately dismissed after prosecutors entered a nolle prosequi, leading to his full acquittal in that prior case.