A Mother’s Day gathering on May 8, 2022 in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood of St. Louis ended in deadly violence. Damon Hawkins, 47, was at a family event on an outdoor patio at the Minerva Place Apartment complex in the 1300 block of Montclair Avenue when a dispute with another man moved to the parking lot and escalated. Surveillance captured the shooting but the shooter’s face was not clearly visible due to clothing. Officers arrived about 6:00 p.m. and found Hawkins unresponsive; he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police say the other man, 29-year-old Howard Mayes, fled but later surrendered at police headquarters, driven there by his mother. Did anyone at the Minerva Place gathering notice tensions earlier that day or see what led to the argument?