In the late hours of May 28, 2021, 26-year-old Dakota Richard Johnston of Donora, Pennsylvania, was shot dead inside his home on 3rd Street. According to testimony from his girlfriend, Tionya Gaston, Javonne Malachi Crawford, 22, and two other men arrived; Crawford allegedly told Johnston he knew why they were there, produced a handgun, then shot Johnston twice in the head at close range. Gaston was shot four times while trying to protect herself but managed to flee the house with her son and summon help from a nearby Fraternal Order of Eagles; Johnston was taken to Monongahela Valley Hospital and pronounced dead shortly after midnight.

Crawford fled but was captured after a short foot chase in nearby woods and found with a .45-caliber handgun and 148 stamp bags of suspected heroin. While in a police cruiser, body camera footage reportedly captured him saying he knew he had killed someone. He was charged with criminal homicide and attempted criminal homicide; prosecutors have added weapons and drug-related counts and announced their intent to seek the death penalty, and he is being held without bond at the Washington County Jail.

If anyone knew Dakota, his movements that night, or saw activity near 3rd Street on May 28, 2021, please share what is known.