Ronald L. Seawright Jr., a 32-year-old Black man from Charleston, West Virginia, was fatally shot on the evening of April 6, 2019, on Maryland Avenue on the city’s West Side. The Charleston Police Department opened a homicide investigation after the shooting.

Investigators identified 35-year-old Gerard Rodo Spencer as a suspect and obtained a warrant charging him with first-degree murder. Spencer fled the area, prompting a multi-state search that led to the U.S. Marshals Service joining the effort on May 21, 2019, after tips placed him in the Hampton and Newport News, Virginia, areas.

Law enforcement located Spencer in Hampton almost a year later. On January 23, 2020, U.S. Marshals and local officers approached a residence on Hilltop Drive in Newport News; Spencer attempted to escape through a second-floor window, briefly confronted officers in the backyard, then returned inside. After a roughly 45-minute standoff he surrendered and was taken into custody.

If anyone has information about Ronald Seawright’s life, movements that night, or the events on Maryland Avenue, please come forward.