Yo, what’s up y’all, it’s Gee Money, and you’re listening to Prison Math. This is the show where we talk about how a split-second can change your whole life, and not in a good way. Today, we’re talking about something that went down in Kalamazoo, Michigan, at a Circle K gas station. September 28, 2023. I mean, it was just a regular morning, right? Folks grabbing coffee, maybe a donut, filling up before work. But then, around 7 AM, everything flipped. Two men got shot in the parking lot. One of ‘em, Tyrone Jerome Potts, he didn’t make it. The other guy survived, but he got hit up pretty bad. And the man who pulled the trigger? Brendan James Smith, 31 years old.Now, I don’t know what started it. Like, was it beef from before, or just something that popped off right then? Nobody’s really saying. But what we do know is, Smith fired. Two men went down. And here’s the wild part—Brendan didn’t run. He didn’t try to hide. He walked right into the police station and turned himself in. Confessed. But, you know, by then, it was too late. The damage was done.He got charged with second-degree murder, assault with intent to murder, carrying a concealed weapon, felony firearm—the whole list. No bond, either. Prosecutors said he was too dangerous. Even though he turned himself in, the judge kept him locked up. And, man, it just makes you think—how fast things can go from normal to never-the-same. Like, how do you even process that? One moment, you’re just living your life, and the next, you’re making a choice you can’t take back.So let’s talk about what I call “prison math.” This is where it gets real. That whole thing at the Circle K? It probably took less than a minute. Maybe 30 seconds, tops. But now, Brendan Smith is looking at 25 to 40 years behind bars. That’s 300 to 480 months. Over 10,000 days. I mean, that’s almost half a lifetime, just gone.And here’s the thing—nobody ever stops to do that math in the moment. You’re mad, you’re scared, you feel disrespected, whatever. But the courts? They don’t care about your feelings. They care about what you did. You pull a gun, you shoot somebody, you just added up your time. And this wasn’t some random thing, either. Police said it was deliberate. That stacks the charges even higher.I gotta be real with y’all for a second. I drive rideshare at night sometimes, and I’ve had some close calls. Like, one time, this dude got in my car, and he was just on edge, you know? I could feel it. He started yelling about something, and for a second, I felt that heat rising in me. I wanted to snap back, but I just took a breath, kept my cool, and let him vent. Dropped him off, no problem. I mean, I’m not saying I’m perfect, but that night, I thought about how easy it is to let one moment mess up everything.That’s the math nobody teaches you. Thirty seconds of anger, and you could be looking at decades.So what happened after? The Circle K shut down. Closed for good. The city, you know, it moves on. People find a new spot for gas, maybe talk about it for a while, but life keeps rolling. But for Tyrone’s family? They never get him back. For Brendan? He’s gonna spend most of his adult life locked up. Two families, just broken.And I keep thinking—what about the community? Like, do we just accept this as normal? Or is there something we could be doing to help folks slow down, think twice before making that kind of choice? I mean, I don’t have all the answers. Maybe it’s about talking more, or having places where people can cool off, or just teaching folks that it’s okay to walk away. I don’t know. But I do know this—those 30 seconds, they don’t just affect the people involved. The whole neighborhood feels it.So, if you take anything from this, let it be this: don’t let one moment define your whole life. Next time you feel that heat, just remember the math. Thirty seconds of rage can cost you thirty years. That’s real.Alright, that’s it for today. I’m Gee Money, and this is Prison Math. We’ll be back next time, breaking down the high cost of low thinking. Until then, do the math—before they do it for you.

Episodes

30 Seconds Forever