2 Men Agreed To Settle Racist Online Beef In Person, Both Died In A Shootout

Two men killed each other in Florida after an online argument, police say.

Police say Elroi Ashley and Canyon Molitor shot and killed each other Saturday morning outside a St. John's County convenience store, WFOX reports. .

Loved ones are at a loss.


"I don't wish this on anybody, nobody at all," said Eboni Hollimon, Elroi Ashley's sister.

"I'm so lost that you're gone; it's just ridiculous," said Daniel Staring, Canyon Molitor's friend.

"It's hard for someone to have to go this way, and you would never think it would be your family member," Hollimon said.

"Just the fact that this actually happened, it's just unbelievable. There's honestly not any words for it anymore," Staring said.

According to deputies, the two had been arguing online, and when they met face to face in the store parking lot, a verbal altercation quickly turned to gunfire.
Molitor was pronounced dead at the scene, and Ashley died later at the hospital.

Hollimon said she wants answers about the argument that killed the father of four.

"It's hard when you can't tell somebody you love them. You can't have last words to say something to them. It's hard, it's really hard," she said.

Staring said there's no reason worth losing his best friend.

"I loved the kid though, it's so hard to believe that this happened to him, it really is," he said.

Investigators are reviewing surveillance footage and piecing together how this argument got so out of hand.

Friends of Elroi Ashley and Canyon Molitor said the two knew each other and were friends.

The entire community is shaken up, especially those who knew both men.

"I couldn't believe it, and I still can't believe it," mutual friend Jose Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said that Ashley was like family.

"Great father, awesome person, a clown man who was always joking. He was a great strong man and he was just a good person. I just can't believe he's gone," he said.

Rodriguez is equally as shocked about Molitor, who worked with him.

"He was a good guy and a nice person. He wasn't a bad person either. Like what happened is just a sad story," Rodriguez said.