‘Our sweet Jillian:’ Beloved Bluffton pharmacy employee dies after ‘vicious’ shooting
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The murder of Okatie’s Jillian Angner
A Bluffton man faces a murder trial for what prosecutors called a calculated execution of his ex-girlfriend, a beloved employee of a local pharmacy who was fatally shot as she drove her child to school in early 2023.
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For hundreds of Beaufort County residents, a trip to the drugstore was synonymous with the bright, bubbly smile of Jillian Angner, an honorary member of her “second family” at Bluffton’s Ulmer Family Pharmacy. Angner died Saturday at age 25, five months after a “vicious” Okatie shooting put her in critical condition. She leaves behind her 6-year-old son, Aiden.
“We will miss her smile and her daily dedication to help our business grow,” pharmacy co-owners Cindy and Cathy Ulmer announced via Facebook on Tuesday. “She loved helping people and taking care of them. We would not be the business we are today without her. She will forever be a part of the Ulmer familly.”
Born in New Jersey in 1998, Angner later moved to the Lowcountry and graduated from Bluffton High School. After obtaining her license, she began work as a pharmacy technician at the Ulmer Family Pharmacy.
Angner was driving her son to school the morning of March 2 along Okatie’s Harrison Island Road when sudden gunfire struck the car, leaving the woman with multiple gunshot wounds and in critical condition. She was taken to a Savannah area hospital, where “she fought her hardest for five months” before being taken off life support, her family said. Her son was not injured during the shooting.
Just one week after the incident, Beaufort County deputies arrested 28-year-old Bluffton resident John Shea, who had dated Angner for a short time in 2022, charging him with two counts of attempted murder in connection with the shooting. He was denied bond in late June and remains in custody at the Beaufort County jail, records show.
In the wake of Angner’s death, one count of attempted murder could be “upgraded” to a murder charge for Shea. The 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office has not yet made a decision but will proceed according to the case’s new developments and new evidence, spokesperson Jeff Kidd told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette on Wednesday.
Angner’s visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at Sauls Funeral Home in Bluffton, followed by a funeral mass at 11 a.m. Saturday at Hilton Head’s St. Francis by the Sea Catholic Church, according to her obituary.
This story was originally published August 9, 2023 at 3:23 PM.
