A family-business dispute in Sterling Heights, Michigan, ended with 54-year-old Rita Evans dead from a gunshot wound on May 26, 2023. The confrontation happened in the parking lot of Kath Khemicals, a soap-making company where Evans was CFO and her half-brother, Zachary Holston III, was CEO. Holston was leaving when Evans, accompanied by her husband and daughter, approached his vehicle and a verbal argument over paperwork inside the car turned physical.

According to prosecutors, both people drew firearms and shots were exchanged; Evans was struck and later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Holston, who reportedly was not injured, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and felony firearm. His arraignment included a not guilty plea entered on his behalf and a defense claim he tried to avoid the confrontation. Prosecutors say surveillance video shows Holston pushing a young woman who tried to intervene and drawing his weapon while Evans’s gun remained in her purse. Bond was set at $500,000 with GPS tether and home confinement conditions, along with a court-ordered mental health evaluation and no contact with the victim’s family or the business.

Does anyone have information about the moments before the parking-lot confrontation or about the parties involved?