On the evening of December 29, 2018, 22-year-old Wanyaa Stewart was at a Mobil gas station at Baseline Road and Mill Avenue in Tempe, Arizona, attempting to put air in a flat tire. It was a seemingly ordinary task that tragically turned into the final moments of his life. While Stewart was preoccupied with his tire, he was fatally shot. His girlfriend was present at the scene and witnessed the tragic event.
Wanyaa was the younger brother of Zylan Cheatham, who was a star forward for the Arizona State University basketball team at the time.
The Tempe Police Department launched an investigation that soon pointed to a history of conflict between Stewart and another man, Dantreil Griffin, who was 25 years old at the time. Investigators believed the shooting may have been gang-related. Through the use of video surveillance footage and tracking of cell phone data, law enforcement was able to connect two individuals to the crime.
In January 2019, Dantreil Griffin was arrested in Laveen and subsequently faced a first-degree murder charge for the shooting death of Wanyaa Stewart. The following month, a second suspect, 25-year-old Corey Winston Jr., was apprehended in Phoenix. Authorities alleged that Winston was the driver of the vehicle in which he and Griffin fled the scene after the shooting.
Dantreil Griffin was ultimately convicted by a Maricopa County jury in June 2022 on charges of first-degree murder, assisting a criminal street gang, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and discharging a firearm within city limits. Corey Winston Jr. was also booked into Maricopa County Jail on several charges, including first-degree murder, misconduct involving a weapon, and assisting a criminal street gang.
