Man Pleads Guilty to Mother’s Day Shooting
August 28, 2024

Judge Hands Down 18-Year Sentence

ST. LOUIS, MO (August 29, 2024) — Howard Mayes, 29, pleaded guilty to fatally shooting Damon Hawkins, 47, on May 8, 2022, at the Minerva Place Apartment complex in the 1300 block of Montclair Avenue in the city’s Hamilton Heights neighborhood.


On the day of the shooting, several people at the apartment complex were celebrating Mother’s Day on an outdoor patio. After a brief argument, Mayes shot Hawkins multiple times in the parking lot and fled. The shooting was captured on surveillance video, but the face of the shooter was obscured by his clothing. Mayes’s mother later drove him to police headquarters where he turned himself in.


The case was prosecuted by Violent Crime Supervisor Tanja Engelhardt.


“A brief argument on a day of celebration led to a senseless killing,” said Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore. “For the victim’s and the defendant’s families, Mother’s Day will always be marred by the memory of this crime.”


Circuit Judge Katherine Fowler sentenced Mayes to 15 years in prison for second-degree murder plus three years for armed criminal action.

                             ###

For Immediate Release

For more information contact:

Amber Raub

Public Information Officer

St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office

rauba@stlouiscao.org

314-589-6233 (office)

314-312-9912 (cell)

More News

July 7, 2025
A 23-year-old man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in a daylight armed robbery that was captured on surveillance and doorbell video in North St. Louis.
July 2, 2025
A St. Louis jury has convicted Anthony Moore, 30, of second-degree rape, first-degree burglary, and felony drug possession for a 2022 assault involving an unconscious woman at a hotel in the city’s The Hill neighborhood.
June 27, 2025
Terry Garey, 43, was sentenced Friday to four consecutive life sentences plus 15 years for sexually assaulting two young girls in St. Louis. A jury convicted Garey in May of three counts of first-degree statutory sodomy, one count of attempted statutory sodomy, and one count of first-degree child molestation.