Mom, son killed in Fla. shooting will be buried in Beaufort after supporters raise money

A mother and son killed in a shooting in Florida this month will be laid to rest together this week in Beaufort.

The funeral service for Stephanie Willis and Ricky Willis will be at noon Thursday at Bethesda Christian Fellowship on St. Helena Island. They will be buried at Beaufort Memorial Gardens next to Copeland Funeral Service on Robert Smalls Parkway.

An online fundraiser started by Stephanie Willis’ niece, Tierra Chisolm, reached the $8,000 goal to have the mother and son brought back to South Carolina for the funeral.

Stephanie Willis, 34, and Ricky Willis, 10, were shot and killed by the mother’s boyfriend, Tyrone Johnson, on Oct. 21 in their Tampa, Florida, apartment, police said. Johnson was arrested and charged with two counts of murder and aggravated child abuse and is being held without bond in Hillsborough County jail, records show.

Johnson, 42, was born in South Carolina and had lived in the Coosaw area. He and Stephanie Willis had lived together about a year, according to the family and an arrest report.

Johnson called police to say he had been attacked and shot two people, according to a redacted arrest report released to The Beaufort Gazette and The Island Packet on Tuesday. He told investigators an argument started over changing the television channel and that he had shot Stephanie Willis and her son after a confrontation in the master bedroom, local media outlets reported.

Evidence in the apartment contradicted Johnson’s statement, the arrest report said. Investigators found evidence a gun had been fired in the boy’s bedroom and blood was discovered under his bed, according to the report.

Chisolm said she believes Johnson acted after Stephanie Willis had talked of leaving her boyfriend in the weeks before the shooting and that the relationship had not been abusive.

Willis was born and raised in Beaufort and attended Battery Creek High School. She later moved to Georgia and about five years ago moved to Tampa, where she worked as a home health aide, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

Ricky Willis, who went by his middle name Ryon, was a professional wrestling fan and regularly produced videos for his YouTube channel.