Cedric Cotton, a Black man in his early thirties from Tulsa, left home in the early hours of August 29, 2018, with his girlfriend to stop at the QuikTrip at East 11th Street and South Garnett Road. The couple noticed a man sitting in a red Chevrolet Tahoe in the lot who seemed suspicious. According to investigators and witnesses, an argument began in the parking lot when they left the store; police said the driver, identified as 47-year-old Terry Markham, stepped from the SUV, fired a single shot into Cedric’s head, then drove away. Cedric was taken to a hospital and died a few hours later. Cedric’s girlfriend was not physically harmed.

Tulsa officers described the location as an area with frequent prostitution and drug activity and said details—including reports the gunman wore a red bandana—led them to view the shooting as likely gang- or drug-related and to believe the shooter and Cedric probably knew each other. A first-degree murder complaint was prepared and, about a day after the shooting, authorities found and arrested Markham in Tahlequah; he was held at the Cherokee County Detention Center on a one-million-dollar bond as Tulsa made arrangements to return him. Cedric was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery.

Does anyone who knew Cedric or who was in that QuikTrip parking lot that night have information to share?