An argument over a tobacco product inside a Roanoke, Virginia, convenience store in the spring of 2023 ended in the shooting death of Steven Don Crowder. Mr. Crowder, a 31-year-old Black man, was a customer at the 7-Eleven on the 1400 block of Grandin Road S.W. on the evening of Sunday, April 16. While there, a confrontation broke out between him and the store clerk.
The dispute quickly escalated, and the clerk, Isaiah Carl Baldwin, shot Mr. Crowder.
Police who responded to the scene shortly before 9:00 p.m. found Mr. Crowder unresponsive with a critical gunshot wound; he was pronounced dead at the scene. Immediately after the shooting, Baldwin fled the 7-Eleven.
Using witness statements and video surveillance from the store, investigators identified Baldwin as the suspect. In the early hours of Monday, April 17, 2023, police issued a warrant for his arrest on a charge of second-degree murder. U.S. Marshals took Baldwin into custody later that same day.
Isaiah Baldwin was tried before a jury in Roanoke City Circuit Court. The jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and malicious shooting at a building. In May 2024, Baldwin was sentenced to 20 years in prison, to be followed by six years of supervised probation upon his release.
