A Jefferson County jury has convicted Gage Lewis of murder for the May 2024 shooting death of 21-year-old Dion Smith Jr. inside a Taylor Boulevard gas station in Louisville's Iroquois neighborhood, recommending a 20-year prison sentence. Lewis was 18 years old at the time of the shooting, and a second person inside the store was also wounded but survived.
The shooting happened inside the Speedy Mart convenience store at 4406 Taylor Boulevard, according to WHAS11. As reported by WLKY, the gas station sits just north of Iroquois High School. Louisville Metro Police Department Fourth Division officers responded to the 4400 block of Taylor Boulevard around 8:56 p.m. on May 18, 2024, and found two adult men suffering from gunshot wounds inside the business, per WDRB.
Emergency crews rushed Smith and the second victim to University of Louisville Hospital, where Smith was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. The other man was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, the outlet's report notes. Detectives with LMPD Homicide used the store's commercial surveillance footage to identify Lewis as the suspect before he was taken into custody, the same account states.
From Arrest to Conviction
Police records identify the defendant as Gage Leviathan Lewis, born January 8, 2006, making him 18 at the time of the shooting, according to FOX56 News. He was arrested and charged with murder on August 5, 2024, per WLKY's reporting. This week, the Jefferson County jury found him guilty and recommended he serve 20 years.
Formal sentencing is scheduled for October 7, 2026, in Jefferson County Circuit Court, WHAS11 reports. Under Kentucky Revised Statutes § 439.3401, murder is classified as a violent offense, meaning Lewis would have to serve at least 85 percent of any term-of-years sentence — roughly 17 years of the recommended 20 — before becoming eligible for parole consideration.
Prosecutor Speaks on Commercial-Area Violence
Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney Gerina D. Whethers said after the verdict that city residents should not have to fear gun violence while shopping, and affirmed her office's commitment to aggressively prosecuting violent offenses, according to WHAS11's report.
The Taylor Boulevard commercial corridor in the Iroquois neighborhood has seen repeated gun violence in recent years, including a July 2020 shooting at a nearby convenience store, as documented by WDRB at the time. Louisville recorded 101 homicides in 2025, continuing a years-long trend of triple-digit annual murder totals dating back to 2016, according to Louisville Metro Government data.
