Milton Bankston, a 41-year-old man from Dayton, Ohio, was killed on the morning of April 18, 2026, after a shooting near the Summit Square apartment complex. Police and medics were called shortly before 9:30 a.m. to the 600 block of Summit Square Drive after reports that someone had been shot. When officers arrived, they found Bankston outside, described in reports as lying on the ground near the apartment buildings, in a sidewalk or small grassy area.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The first moments after the shooting were captured in the urgency of a 911 call, when a woman reported seeing the wounded man on the ground and pleaded for police and medics to come quickly. By the time help arrived, there was nothing that could be done to save him. The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office later identified the victim as Milton Bankston, confirming that the deadly shooting had taken the life of the Dayton resident.
Investigators said the shooting followed an argument. According to court records cited in local reporting, witnesses told police that Bankston had been in a verbal dispute with Curtis Howard Sr. when Howard allegedly pulled out a handgun and fired multiple shots. Detectives also reportedly obtained video of the incident, and that video was said to support what witnesses described. The case quickly moved from a shooting investigation to a murder case, with Howard identified as the suspect.
Howard was initially described in reports as wanted in connection with the killing, and Dayton Municipal Court records listed serious charges against him. He was charged with two counts of murder and two counts of felonious assault, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. In the days after Bankston’s death, residents at Summit Square spoke publicly about the fear and frustration surrounding repeated violence at the complex, with one resident saying she had seen the aftermath of the shooting and that it had deeply affected her.
Authorities later arrested Curtis Howard at a house on Summit Square Drive. The arrest involved the Dayton SWAT team and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. After he was taken into custody, Howard was brought to a hospital for injuries that officials said he had sustained on April 18. Police said he would be booked into the Montgomery County Jail on the murder warrant once he was released from the hospital.
The killing of Milton Bankston became part of a broader conversation among Summit Square residents about safety at the complex. Local reports noted that there had been another shooting at Summit Square the month before, leaving two people injured, one seriously. Dayton police also said they had responded to hundreds of calls for service at the property in 2025 and already hundreds more in 2026. Against that backdrop, Bankston’s death stood out as the most devastating outcome: an argument that allegedly escalated into gunfire, ending with a man dead outside an apartment complex and a suspect facing murder and felonious assault charges.
