Insets, from left: Franklin Radell Smoak Jr. and Terrance Fields. Background: The vehicle Smoak fired into, killing Fields in Hampton County, South Carolina (14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office).
A South Carolina man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for fatally shooting a man after opening fire on a car he mistakenly believed was carrying the person who killed his cousin. Instead, prosecutors said, the vehicle held a group of men who were simply out riding.
Franklin Radell Smoak Jr., 27, received the prison term after pleading guilty to murder in the death of 32-year-old Terrance Fields in Hampton County, according to a news release from the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Smoak was also sentenced to 30 years for two counts of attempted murder tied to the gunfire directed at two passengers inside the car. The sentences will be served at the same time.
“These charges reflect the extreme danger posed by the defendants’ actions,” Reed Evans of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, who prosecuted the case, said in a statement. “This was a tragic case of mistaken identity, and it cost Terrance Fields his life. The attack on Highway 68 unleashed a rain of bullets on Fields’ car, killing him and gravely wounding another passenger.”
The shooting unfolded on July 31, 2023, as Smoak was driving along State Highway 68 and noticed a white sedan, authorities said.
Investigators said Smoak believed the driver was connected to the killing of his cousin, 18-year-old Kaleb Cave, about three months earlier because the suspect in that case drove a similar vehicle. Smoak switched off his headlights, moved in behind the sedan and began shooting.
Prosecutors said at least 14 bullets struck the car. Fields was shot in the chest and died at the scene. A front-seat passenger suffered a critical gunshot wound to the head, while a man riding in the back seat escaped injury but witnessed the attack.
But Fields had nothing to do with Smoak’s cousin’s death. He was simply out for a ride with his buddies who were on their way to a Love’s travel stop.
The press release did not say if anyone had been arrested in Cave’s homicide. It was unsolved as of July 2025.
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