Craig Douglas Cousins, 59, male, was shot and killed on Memorial Day, May 26, 2025, in Vallejo, California. Police found him and another man, 44-year-old Billy Hinkle, fatally wounded near a homeless encampment by Sacramento Street and Daniels Avenue in the White Slough area around 5:30 p.m.; a third man was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Friends and family described Cousins and Hinkle as informal “peacekeepers” who often tried to calm disputes in the encampment before they escalated.
Officers from Vallejo and allied agencies searched for an armed suspect for hours that evening as detectives began piecing together the sequence of events. In the days that followed, investigators obtained a no-bail arrest warrant and asked for help from the U.S. Marshals Service amid public-safety concerns.
On June 4, 2025, a Marshals fugitive task force arrested 45-year-old Vallejo resident Eddie Charles Sample on Cravath Street on Treasure Island in San Francisco. Authorities booked Sample into the Solano County Jail; initial accounts indicated he was held without bail on suspicion of murder pending court proceedings. Coverage at the time did not disclose a motive, and officials said the third victim remained hospitalized with critical injuries.
Cousins’ death was memorialized by community and local outlets that highlighted his efforts to keep the encampment safe, even as the investigation shifted to building a case against the accused gunman. Public tributes and remembrance posts identified him by name and age and placed his killing on May 26 in Vallejo.
