Inset left: Domynic Elahee (Hamilton County Jail). Inset right: Jaeden Smith (GoFundMe). Background: The apartment complex where Elahee shot and killed Smith in Forest Park, Ohio (Google Maps).
An Ohio man will be spending several decades behind bars for shooting and killing a teenager who was trying to protect his younger brother from being bullied.
Early last month, Domynic Elahee, 38, was convicted by a jury of his peers in Hamilton County on two counts each of murder and felonious assault for the May 2025 death of 18-year-old Jaeden Smith.
On Monday, Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Judge Patrick Dinkelacker sentenced the defendant to 21 years to life in prison.
The underlying incident occurred on May 5, 2025, at an apartment on Northland Boulevard in Forest Park, a northern suburb of Cincinnati.
On the day in question, Smith had his 7-year-old brother at his side. Then he knocked on Elahee”s door. The older brother wanted to discuss bullying directed at his younger brother by the man’s 11-year-old son.
But the topic was not discussed.
First, Elahee’s 10-year-old daughter opened the door. Then, in a flurry of confusion and violence, the father took action.
In a matter of moments, the defendant “blindly shot” his handgun and struck Smith in the chest from “across his living room, out of his front door,” prosecutors said during the sentencing hearing, according to a courtroom report by Shaker Heights-based Fox affiliate WOIO.
“This is heartbreaking,” Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich said in a press release announcing the charges against Elahee last year. “Jaeden was unarmed and attempting to have a conversation about bullying, which was the proper way to handle the situation. Now, two families’ lives are forever changed.”
Smith’s brother and Elahee’s daughter watched the violence unfold.
Several neighbors heard the noise and called 911. The teenager, who had been shot in his abdomen, was rushed to University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
“My youngest came in screaming, red in the face,” Smith’s mother told Cincinnati-based ABC affiliate WCPO at the time. “When he came in, he said, ‘Jaeden’s shot, he’s shot, he’s dying — call 911.””
During trial, Elahee’s attorney argued his client believed Smith was armed and fired in self-defense, according to a courtroom report by Cincinnati-based NBC affiliate WLWT. Prosecutors, however, pointed out the victim was not armed and just wanted to talk.
“This was an act of bravery, him standing up for his little brother,” Smith’s mother said. “It was just a smooth, ‘Hey, can we talk about your child doing this to my little brother,’ and it turned deadly.”
The defendant, to no small amount of controversy, showed up to his sentencing hearing with a smile on his face, multiple outlets reported.
Smith’s family, in turn, accused Elahee of showing no remorse. They asked the court to impose the maximum sentence.
“I feel like I’ve been robbed,” the victim’s mother said. “I’m stuck with memories.”
Elahee had nothing to say during the hearing. Instead, his lawyer spoke on his behalf. The lawyer said the smile was because Elahee was seeing his own family for the first time in a long time.
“His murder was senseless, cold-hearted, cold-blooded, his life was gone too soon,” Smith’s aunt said during sentencing.
The judge echoed that estimation. He said the crime was a “senseless killing” while addressing the defendant directly.
“He was not given a chance,” Dinkelacker told Elahee. “You owed him that. You owed him a chance and you didn’t give him a chance.”
A GoFundMe for the slain teenager’s family remembers Smith as “the protector, the son, the brother, the hero.”
