CINCINNATI — A Hamilton County jury has acquitted a 56-year-old man in the fatal shooting of another man at a Shake Shack restaurant near the University of Cincinnati, finding he acted in self-defense.
The jury cleared Antwoine McCants on all counts Sept. 25 at the conclusion of a five-day trial in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. He had faced murder and felonious assault charges in the June 2025 killing of Christopher Stallworth, 41, in what prosecutors described as a “misunderstanding” over a parking spot.
Prosecutors argued that McCants shot Stallworth inside the Clifton Heights restaurant without ever seeing a gun. They said the two men were talking about an encounter that happened on the street when McCants aimed a gun at Stallworth and pulled the trigger. Stallworth had started to back away with his hands in his pockets, prosecutors told jurors.
The gun did not fire because there was no round in the chamber, so McCants racked it and fired, striking Stallworth in the chest, according to the prosecution’s account. Stallworth staggered outside onto the restaurant’s patio and collapsed in the bushes. He died at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
The shooting was captured on surveillance cameras inside the restaurant, and jurors saw the footage during the trial.
The defense argued that McCants was acting to protect himself, and the jury agreed, acquitting him on every charge. With the verdict, McCants is cleared of all criminal liability in Stallworth’s death.
