Robert Dante Delresse Lequan Creighton was 25 when he was shot and killed in Wheeling, West Virginia, in the early morning hours of May 4, 2003. Testimony later recorded in court says he had spent much of the evening at his brother’s home, returned home about 1:30 a.m., then left to take his son to the child’s grandmother. He later waited outside a Wheeling bar because he had been barred from entering.

Court testimony states Timia Jamar Johnson came out of the bar, made a threatening remark, and a physical confrontation followed. Creighton’s mother testified he was walking away when someone called his name and he was shot in the neck. He reportedly ran to his vehicle and tied a shirt around his neck but collapsed and died beside the car; his wife received a call about 3:30 a.m. announcing he had been shot.

The Court of Claims later found Creighton had not engaged in contributory misconduct and awarded funeral-compensation after testimony that he had not been drinking and was not the aggressor. State records identify Timia Jamar Johnson as the person who fatally shot Creighton; Johnson pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to three to fifteen years in prison.