DeMarcus Gibson-Beard’s death followed a family confrontation that prosecutors say began after he asked his sister’s boyfriend to help move a television.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — DeMarcus Gibson-Beard arrived at his mother’s home with his fiancée and a television on Aug. 29. Before the morning was over, the 27-year-old father of six had been shot in the living room, and his sister’s boyfriend had fled with the gun, according to prosecutors.
The death left one branch of the family grieving Gibson-Beard while another member of the same household became central to the criminal case. Alvin James Smith, 20, who was dating Gibson-Beard’s sister, was charged with second-degree intentional murder two days later. Prosecutors allege that Smith intentionally shot Gibson-Beard during a confrontation at the Park Street residence. Smith told investigators he acted to defend himself and his girlfriend. Witness statements included in the criminal complaint conflict over whether Gibson-Beard struck his sister and over parts of the physical struggle immediately before the gunfire.
An obituary released by Gibson-Beard’s family describes a life that is largely absent from the court filing. Born Nov. 4, 1998, in Wyoming, Minnesota, Gibson-Beard was remembered as a loving father whose six children held a central place in his life. His family wrote of his kindness, laughter and affection for the people around him. His fiancée was among the loved ones listed in the obituary. He was 27 when he died Aug. 29. The description stands apart from the compressed language of the criminal complaint, where his final minutes are reconstructed through witness interviews.
Those final minutes began with an ordinary task. Gibson-Beard and his fiancée had gone to his mother’s residence to bring over a television, according to the complaint. Gibson-Beard asked Smith to help move it from their vehicle into the apartment. His fiancée told police that Smith appeared to take offense at being asked. The two men began arguing. The disagreement then shifted away from the television to a more persistent source of strain: Smith and Gibson-Beard’s sister were staying at the mother’s home, and other family members believed they should leave or contribute more to the household.
Gibson-Beard’s mother told investigators she had repeatedly asked her daughter and Smith to move out and that they had refused. She said the situation had created ongoing tension. Gibson-Beard’s fiancée said the argument on Aug. 29 included criticism that Smith was living in the residence without paying bills. In that context, the request to move a television appears in the charging document as the immediate spark rather than the full explanation for the confrontation. Prosecutors have not alleged that Smith planned the shooting in advance, and the murder count filed against him specifically concerns an alleged intentional killing without premeditation.
The argument became physical while several members of the family were nearby. Gibson-Beard’s mother told police she tried to hold her son back but that Smith continued moving toward him. Gibson-Beard’s fiancée described the men arguing and said Gibson-Beard eventually rushed at Smith. She told investigators that Gibson-Beard threw a punch that did not connect. People in the home attempted to separate the men, according to the complaint. Then she heard what sounded like a single pop and saw smoke near Gibson-Beard before he went down. Police later found him on the living room floor.
Medics transported Gibson-Beard to a hospital, where he died. The medical examiner classified the death as a homicide. That ruling establishes that the death resulted from another person’s action; it does not by itself determine whether a particular defendant committed murder or whether a legal defense applies. Smith acknowledged firing the gun in statements described by investigators, but he disputed the prosecution’s implication that the shooting was unlawful. He told police that Gibson-Beard had been threatening and had struck him and Smith’s girlfriend immediately before Smith fired.
Smith’s girlfriend, who was also Gibson-Beard’s sister, gave a version that supported part of Smith’s account. She told investigators that her brother assaulted Smith and punched her in the head while she tried to separate the men. She said she heard one gunshot and had not known Smith possessed a firearm. Police recorded two details that challenged that description: officers said they observed no visible injury to her face or head, and her mother denied that Gibson-Beard had struck his sister. The discrepancy became one of several unresolved factual issues in the charging document.
Smith told investigators the dispute included an insult from Gibson-Beard and complaints that Smith was living at the mother’s home. He said he viewed Gibson-Beard as threatening. According to the complaint, Smith went to the bedroom he shared with his girlfriend and concealed a handgun under his arm for protection before returning to the living room. Smith said that after Gibson-Beard reached around his sister and slapped him and her, he drew the weapon, manipulated its slide and fired. He made a statement indicating that he knew the location at which he had aimed.
The events after the shot created a second sequence investigators documented in detail. Smith left the apartment with the firearm instead of waiting for officers. According to the complaint, he went to a wooded area and hid under a vehicle. He contacted two people and told them he had killed someone. His girlfriend later reached him and helped police persuade him to return. During that call, Smith said he did not want to go to jail, referred to having an illegal handgun and expressed thoughts of suicide, investigators said.
When Smith returned, officers arrested him and said they recovered a handgun without a serial number from his waistband. He again told police that he had fired because Gibson-Beard struck him and his girlfriend. During a subsequent interview, Smith engaged in self-injurious behavior and expressed a desire to die, according to the complaint. Those statements provide context for the arrest and interrogation but do not establish guilt, motive or a mental health diagnosis. Criminal responsibility is determined through the court process, where the state bears the burden of proving the charge.
The charge against Smith alleges intentional second-degree murder. Minnesota law defines that offense, in relevant part, as causing another person’s death with intent to cause death but without premeditation. The statute permits a sentence of up to 40 years in prison after conviction. The distinction matters because the state is not alleging in the filed count that Smith formed a premeditated plan to kill Gibson-Beard before the confrontation. Prosecutors instead rely on the circumstances of the shooting, Smith’s statements and witness accounts to allege that the act was intentional when it occurred.
Smith’s claim that he was protecting himself and his girlfriend remains an important part of the case because witness accounts do not line up on every detail. His girlfriend said Gibson-Beard hit her. Her mother said he did not. Police reported no visible injury to the girlfriend. Gibson-Beard’s fiancée said Gibson-Beard rushed Smith and threw a punch that missed. Smith said he was struck and then fired. Those are not interchangeable accounts, and none should be rewritten as a settled fact before a judge or jury evaluates the evidence or the case ends through another lawful court procedure.
The shooting also left the home itself at the center of two different stories: one about a family’s unresolved living arrangement and another about a criminal prosecution. The same residence where Gibson-Beard’s mother said she had tried repeatedly to resolve who would continue living there became the place where her son was mortally wounded. The people trying to separate the men were also the people most directly affected afterward. The complaint documents their observations mainly because they are evidence; the obituary documents the loss in personal terms, emphasizing the children, parents, siblings, fiancée and extended family Gibson-Beard left behind.
Police responded to the residence at about 11:48 a.m., and early reports identified Gibson-Beard’s death as St. Paul’s 14th homicide of the year. Smith was charged Aug. 31 and was initially reported held on $1 million bail. He was scheduled for an early court appearance Sept. 1. Publicly accessible reporting located through Oct. 19 did not establish a later plea, dismissal, conviction or trial result. The allegations therefore remain pending accusations in the most recent reliable material reviewed, and Smith remains entitled to the presumption of innocence.
Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.