Trial Set For Homicide Suspect That Claimed Self Defense In McDavid Main Street Drug Deal

February 12, 2026

During a hearing last week, a trial date was set for the suspect in a fatal shooting on Main Street in McDavid in February 2025. The suspect claims he shot the victim out of fear, but the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office says it was murder.

Investigators charged Antonio Marshone DeSoto, now 26, with homicide for the shooting on Main Street, just east of Highway 29. During a February 4 hearing, Judge John Simon set a jury trial to begin May 11. DeSoto has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bond in the Escambia County Jail.

The victim, identified as Charles Black, was found lying in Main Street directly in front of the McDavid Post Office about 8:40 p.m. on February 18 suffering from two gunshot wounds. He was just a few feet away from the driver’s door of his Chevrolet SUV, which remained in the roadway.

After he was shot, Black was able to call 911 and tell dispatchers that DeSoto was the perpetrator, according to an arrest report. He was no longer able to speak to deputies after they arrived on scene. He was transported by Escambia County EMS to the nearby McDavid Fire Station before being airlifted by Medstar AirCare helicopter to a Pensacola hospital where he later died.

Deputies received a tip that DeSoto had fled following the shooting to a residence in the 100 block of Highway 164, just west of Highway 29 and Driver Road, about a half mile from the shooting scene. Deputies searched the home and found nothing. ECSO said the homeowner said she was allowing DeSoto to stay in a room inside the house, but she had not seen him since earlier that afternoon. She told deputies that she had been advised by her daughter that she heard gunshots from down the road, but she did not see DeSoto after that.

DeSoto was taken into custody outside the home.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under TOP STORIES