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SALT LAKE CITY — A man accused of fatally shooting a 7-Eleven clerk because of an argument over a pack of cigarettes was formally charged with criminal homicide Monday.
Anthony William Cline, 30, was charged with murder, a first-degree felony, in the Nov. 2 shooting of Jamie Blalack, 29, who was working at a 7-Eleven, 1157 W. California Ave.
Cline went into the store about 1:20 a.m. He got into some type of argument with Blalack over cigarettes, according to police. The argument ended when Blalack refused to sell cigarettes to Cline, according to a Salt Lake County Jail report.
As Cline was leaving the store, he told Blalack that "he was going to come back and shoot him," the report stated.
Investigators later viewed the store's surveillance video and could hear Cline say those words, according to charging documents.
Police say Cline walked into the 7-Eleven parking lot, pulled out a gun and fired once from an undisclosed distance. The shot went through the store's glass window and struck Blalack in the head as he was behind the counter helping another customer, killing him instantly.
Detectives later arrested Cline at a motel in Davis County where they also recovered a 1911 model .45-caliber handgun, according to the charges.
Cline was being held in the Salt Lake County Jail on Monday on $1 million bail.
