Ethan Samuel Chic-Colbert, 34, was shot and killed in the early morning hours of January 26, 2025, on Charleston’s East End. Police were called to the 400 block of Elizabeth Street about 3:50 a.m. and found Chic-Colbert seated in the driver’s seat of a vehicle in a parking lot. He had multiple gunshot wounds and died at the scene; this was reported as Charleston’s first homicide of 2025.

Witnesses first said a man in dark clothing approached the vehicle and fired several rounds. Surveillance later showed a maroon Hyundai Sonata with front-end damage and a handicap placard in its rearview mirror used as the getaway car. Video reportedly captured a masked person in a black hoodie and black pants, with white shoes, firing an estimated 15 rounds, striking Chic-Colbert multiple times. The Sonata was stolen from the Kanawha City area and was located three days later behind apartments on Washington Avenue Southeast; gunshot residue was found on the steering wheel and gearshift and three scratch-off lottery tickets were inside.

Chic-Colbert was born in Charleston on June 2, 1990, worked as a welder at the Toyota plant in Buffalo, West Virginia, and was survived by his parents, a brother, three daughters and a son. Does anyone have information about who was in the area that night or remember seeing the maroon Sonata?