4th arrest made in murder of 17-year-old girl outside Beaufort County apartment complex
Police arrested a fourth suspect Friday in connection to the Sept. 15 fatal shooting of a teenage girl outside an apartment complex in Burton.
Derrick Jerrod McKee, 17, of Beaufort, was charged Friday with murder, aggravated breach of peace and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, Beaufort County Detention Center records showed.
Two other teens — Jeremiah Warren and Rashod Lorenzo Williams, 18-year-olds from the Beaufort area — and 23-year-old Storm Lemont Zop Polite, 23, of Dale, were previously arrested on the same charges following the September incident.
The four are accused in the murder of 17-year-old Ari’Anna Mulligan. She’d previously attended Whale Branch College Early High School but transferred to Bridges Preparatory School, where she had just started her senior year at the time of her death.
At about 10 p.m. on Sept. 15, Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to multiple reports of shots fired at the Magnolia Park Apartments, located off Laurel Bay Road in the unincorporated community of Burton. In the parking lot, officers found Mulligan and two other minors who had been shot. BCSO Spokesperson Master Sgt. Danny Allen said multiple shooters were believed to be involved, according to previous reporting by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
Mulligan was pronounced dead at 12:18 a.m. Sept. 16 after being airlifted to the Medical University of South Carolina, Beaufort County Coroner David Ott previously told the newspapers. Ott did not specify how many times Mulligan was shot.
Details about the suspects’ relationship with Mulligan remain unclear due to the ongoing investigation. Allen said Friday afternoon that there would be “multiple arrests on both sides” of the incident.
As of 5 p.m. Friday, of the four charged with Mulligan’s murder, Polite and McKee remained in the detention center, according to jail records.
This story was originally published October 4, 2024 at 5:08 PM.
