A headphone sale in Sanford ended with a 22-year-old Orlando man shot dead and his truck sinking into a retention pond, and now the two young men convicted in his killing face up to life in prison. William O. Smith and Dra’shawn D. Williams were found guilty of first-degree murder and attempted robbery with a firearm in the death of Brandon Leo, who was killed in July 2024 after traveling to Sanford to sell a pair of used headphones.
Smith, now 19, and Williams, now 17, were convicted on Friday, according to WKMG. Both were underage at the time of the shooting but were charged as adults because of the severity of the crime, an attribution the station traces to the state attorney’s office. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 13.
A Deal for Beats Headphones Turns Deadly
Leo had listed a pair of Beats Wireless headphones on OfferUp, the online marketplace where buyers and sellers arrange in-person meetups, per the station’s report. He drove to a vacant home in Sanford to complete the sale, where Smith and Williams attempted to rob him at gunpoint, according to the same account. When Leo tried to escape in his pickup truck, the pair opened fire as he reversed out of the driveway.
The Seminole County State Attorney’s Office said Williams and Smith shot and killed Leo during what was supposed to be a simple meeting to purchase headphones. Leo’s truck crashed into a nearby retention pond after he was shot, and he was later found dead in the vehicle from his wounds, the office said in its release announcing the indictment.
Physical Evidence and Digital Trails Led to Charges
Sanford police recovered seven shell casings and the headphones outside the vacant house where the shooting occurred, the station’s report states. Investigators also pointed to neighborhood security footage that captured the shooting, along with information pulled from Leo’s and the teens’ cell phones and online accounts that tied Smith and Williams to the crime…