Earnest S. Croft, 31, was found shot to death in the driveway of a residence on Aldrich Street in Aiken, South Carolina, late on the evening of Wednesday, August 18, 2021. Patrol officers who responded to a shots-fired call discovered Croft and he was pronounced dead at the scene; an autopsy was scheduled to determine the exact cause of death.

By the end of August 2021 authorities had identified two suspects. Dontell Daniel Harling, 19 at the time, was arrested and charged with murder and weapon possession. Investigators also named 18-year-old Antonio Jerome Wise on a murder charge and believed a third individual had been involved but had not yet been identified.

Wise was later captured in May 2022 and returned to Aiken County to face warrants that included murder, discharging a firearm into a dwelling, and weapon possession. Anyone with information about the shooting or the unidentified third person is asked to come forward.