Prosecutors in Miller County have formally charged a Texarkana, Ark., man with murder in connection with a fatal shooting at the Raceway gas station last month.
Marvin Arrell Stanton, 49, is accused of shooting Jessie James Hamilton because he wanted his parking space. A fist fight broke out between the two men at about 10:15 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Raceway station at 4125 State Line Avenue, according to a search warrant affidavit.
Hamilton was getting the best of Stanton when Stanton’s girlfriend, Emily Robinson, began tugging on Hamilton, pulling him away from Stanton. That distance gave Stanton the space he needed to pull a handgun from his pants and shoot Hamilton in the abdomen from a range of less than a foot.
Stanton’s friend, Lavon Strong, told investigators he and Stanton were walking out of Raceway when Stanton said, “get that fucking truck out of my way,” the affidavit states.
Robinson claims Stanton “was very polite” when he asked Hamilton to move his vehicle, “because the victim was parked in the location where the suspect and his friends like to park their motorcycles and hang out.”
Strong says Stanton raised his shirt, exposing a handgun in his waistband, as he claimed Stanton had served as a Marine. The two men began to fight and a short time later, Hamilton was shot.
In addition to the handgun investigators collected from Stanton, two magazines for a .45 caliber weapon loaded with 26 rounds were retrieved from Stanton’s motorcycle. Witnesses said Stanton tried to render aid to Hamilton after the shooting.
Stanton has been in jail since his arrest. Bail is set at $250,000.
