Fiancée grieves life partner killed in Minneapolis drive-thru at shooter's sentencing

Jeanette Shaw said she wishes that she would've stayed home instead of going for a food run to the Lake Street White Castle in Minneapolis early one summer morning two years ago. Perhaps then, she wouldn't have witnessed the murder of her fiancée as she sat in the passenger seat while pregnant.

Two weeks after the killing of 32-year-old Tu'Quan L. Smith Sr. of Woodbury, Shaw gave birth to their baby girl. At just two days old, the baby laid on Smith's chest at his funeral, Shaw said through tears at the gunman's sentencing Tuesday in Hennepin County District.

"He could not wait to meet his baby girl," Shaw said.

Lionell Jacque Hicks received a nearly 39-year prison term for shooting Smith, whom he did not know, following a random encounter in the fast-food restaurant drive-thru on Aug. 15, 2021. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last month and agreed to the plea deal negotiated by his defense attorney Kristian Oyen and prosecutors Dan Allard and Grant Gunderson.

Gunderson read a victim impact statement on behalf of Smith's father, Marvin Bobo, who sat in the courtroom gallery with a dozen of Smith's loved ones.

"How do you put into words losing your child to this type of gun violence?" Bobo's statement read. "At a fast food drive-in just trying to feed his family. ... He wasn't looking for any trouble, but trouble found him."

Bobo said for Hicks to open fire without any disregard for his son's life also "put two more lives on the line for this cowardly act."

Shaw said that on the day of the shooting, she and Smith took the kids swimming, where she said Smith helped save a girl from drowning at the water park. That night they went to the since-closed White Castle, which had a 24-hour drive-thru.

Charges say that Minneapolis police responded to the fast-food restaurant at 1:57 a.m.

Several eyewitnesses told investigators that a Hyundai was trying to leave the drive-thru that was followed by Smith's black Malibu. Occupants of both vehicles were friends. The Hyundai driver asked a red Jeep to back up so they could leave. A passenger in the Jeep fired shots into the Malibu and then sped away from the scene.

Shaw said she often wonders what her life would be like today if she had made something to eat at home. But in court she set aside her doubts to say: "We did nothing wrong."

"He had no right to take his life. We simply asked him to move their vehicle so we could exit," Shaw said. "I will never understand how he could murder someone for no reason and go on the run for seven months."

Eleven days after Smith's murder, Minneapolis police asked for the public's help with any information about Hicks. He was arrested March 23, 2022, at a home in north Minneapolis.

Hicks offered his condolences to the family before the judge entered his lengthy sentence.

"I know how it feels to lose a family member to gun violence," Hicks said. "I hope one day the family can forgive me and my actions. There is no justification and I just want to apologize to the family, sincerely."

As sheriff's deputies escorted Hicks out of the courtroom, Bobo shouted that he would see him in hell.