On the evening of December 4, 2024, two people were fatally shot inside Budiman’s Smokeshop & Art Gallery on Cherry Road in Rock Hill, South Carolina. One victim was 49-year-old customer Emad Thabet Saadalla. A 27-year-old employee, Celci Johnson, also died; a third person was wounded and Saadalla’s wife was reported injured.

Surveillance footage and witness accounts show a shirtless man, later identified as 28-year-old Zachary East Elias of Columbia, entering the shop carrying a rifle and opening fire. After the shooting he searched a back room, fled in a silver Dodge truck, crashed near the Catawba River bridge, then confronted officers; he was subdued following a short struggle during which a taser was used and an officer fired a round that did not hit him.

Elias was taken into custody and held at the Rock Hill jail on multiple counts including two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. His defense raised drug-induced psychosis from a chocolate bar; prosecutors say he ingested the substance intentionally. A judge denied bail. Emad Thabet Saadalla was described as the family’s sole provider; he leaves a wife and six children.

If anyone has information about the shooting or knew Saadalla, please share tips with investigators.