On the evening of January 10, 2018, Eric Staton, a Baltimore resident, was fatally shot outside the Family Dollar store in the 1400 block of East Cold Spring Lane at about 7:30 p.m. Officers found Staton slumped against the store wall with multiple gunshot wounds; he was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital and pronounced dead at 7:54 p.m. An Independence Card in his pocket helped identify him.

Investigators focused on an eyewitness who had been with Staton that night, Anton Harris. Harris told detectives he saw a man hiding in nearby trees while Staton was inside the store, later recognized that man as Donovan Faust, and said Faust waited and then shot Staton five times as he exited. Harris gave a recorded statement and later identified Faust in a photographic array. Surveillance footage from the store matched the witness account.

An arrest warrant was issued for Donovan Faust; he was taken into custody on January 12, 2018. A search of Faust’s home yielded clothing described as matching the shooter’s outfit in the surveillance video, including a winter coat and a ski mask. A grand jury later indicted Faust on first-degree murder and related firearm charges. If anyone knew Eric Staton, Anton Harris, or Donovan Faust, or has information about that night, please share what is known.