Mass shooting changed everything for residents of St. Helena. Here’s what we know

A week after four people died and 16 others were shot at a bar on St. Helena Island, the Lowcountry is reeling from the pain and grappling with unanswered questions.

On Sunday morning just before 1 a.m., shots were fired at Willie’s Bar and Grill in the Corners Community at the intersection of Sea Island Parkway and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, one of the busiest areas of a usually sleepy 64-square-mile island. It sounded like a machine gun, owner Willie Turral said.

Four people were pronounced dead at the scene: Amos Gary, 54, of St. Helena; Chiraad Smalls, 33, of Beaufort; Kashawn Smalls-Glaze, 22, of Beaufort; and A’shan’tek Milledge, 22, of Burton. Four others were hospitalized in critical condition immediately after the shooting, but authorities said Wednesday two of those four were “a lot better.”

Social media speculation reached a fever pitch in the days after the shooting. Users assumed that suspects arrested on machine gun possession charges were responsible. But no charges have been filed in connection with the shooting, Sheriff P.J. Tanner said on Wednesday. Whether the public is at risk is a “difficult answer to give,” he said.

The shooting was devastating for St. Helena Island, a historically Gullah community of about 10,000 in the middle of a longstanding battle to preserve its cultural heritage. The island has been in a yearslong fight with a developer over whether a golf course will be built in the Pine Island area. For some, Turral’s support for the Pine Island development has added an extra layer of emotional baggage.

Here’s what we know and don’t know as the investigation enters its second week.

The timeline

Just before 1 a.m. Sunday, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office received multiple reports of a shooting at Willie’s. At 5:47 a.m., the sheriff’s office issued a public notification that it was investigating, and at 9 a.m. it was confirmed that “at least 20 people were injured, four were transported to area hospitals in critical conditions and four victims were pronounced dead at the scene.”

The shooting occurred in the parking lot of the bar. Fairfax Councilmember Phyllis Smart said her 24-year-old son had just arrived at Willie’s when he heard shots being fired. He immediately ran back into his car for cover, she said.

“He literally said he saw bodies drop all over the ground and ran back to his car,” Smart said. “Somebody had invited him to come out there. Before he could even get close, he heard all the gunfire.”

A large crowd was present at Willie’s that night for an afterparty following a Battery Creek High School reunion and tailgate earlier in the day. Tanner said attendance was reported between 500 and 700 people, but some expressed skepticism about the relatively small venue accommodating a crowd of that size.

“That alumni reunion tailgate was at another location. Once it was over, someone hosted an afterparty at Willie’s, and a lot of people went there to continue celebrating, not knowing that something tragic would take place,” said Antwan Milledge, a Beaufort resident who said his 32-year-old daughter was at Willie’s that night. The event was not organized or sanctioned by the Beaufort County School District, a spokesperson said Sunday.

The morning after the shooting, Robert Adams, the executive director of Penn Center, was among the first civilians on the scene.

The Penn Center is former school for recently freed slaves. It served as a retreat where Martin Luther King Jr. polished his message of non-violent civil disobedience. It sits less than a mile south of the bar, and today promotes the history and culture of the sea islands.

Adams had arrived to pick up trash in a Penn Center park located directly across Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive from the bar. Yellow police tape was strung between a power pole and a tree. The bar, he said, had been attracting problems in the past year-and-a-half or so, among them trash and parking issues.

But early Sunday, Adams, who was at his home less than a half-mile from the bar, heard what sounded like machine gun fire. He is now among those calling for action to address the culture of growing gun violence among area youth who too often are turning to weapons when disputes arise.

“We need to take back our island from the people who are trying to displace us with violence,” he said.

The backdrop

Emotions have run high in the wake of the tragedy.

Immediately following the shooting, Beaufort County Councilman York Glover called for Willie’s Bar to be shut down but later backpedaled, saying the statement was based on emotion. Later, he said he would withhold judgment until he gathered more facts.

Turral said the hundreds of people gathered at his bar were “terrorized” and pushed back at Glover, calling his comments “insensitive” and “disgusting.“

“We’re in a tinderbox of large numbers of youth carrying high-powered guns,” said Turral, adding, “I hate” when people immediately start to place blame.

Ironically, Turral spoke about gun violence at a county council meeting in September, when he spoke in favor of the controversial Pine Island proposal that was area’s biggest story prior to the shooting in his own bar.

At that meeting, Turral discussed the number of kids in the country and South Carolina who he said were being “slaughtered” by gun violence, and how the island is being overlooked and underfunded.

“When you deny investment,” he told county council members, “you deny hope.”

Elvio Tropeano, the developer, has promised to invest in community programs as part of the development.

Elayne Scott, who has fought against the redevelopment, says opponents celebrated the county council’s denial of the project on Saturday at Penn Center only to learn of the shooting the next morning.

Scott said the bar and the shooting have tarnished the image of St. Helena, which she called “a very special place.” A function to celebrate the island, she said, is now being discussed. “We’re going to try to show the world we’re not involved in gun slinging at 1 a.m.,” said Scott, who runs a frame shop and Gullah art gallery on St. Helena. “We’re heartbroken.”

The weapons

Turral told the Island Packet on Monday that the shots fired at his bar on Sunday sounded like they came from a machine gun.

“Nobody should have that gun unless you’re at war,” Turral said Monday. “It’s a wartime gun.”

On Wednesday, Tanner refused to identify the weapon or weapons used. But the sheriff did say that machine guns are becoming a big problem in the community, and he criticized judges for setting low bonds for people accused of possession.

Civilians are only allowed to possess machine guns in South Carolina manufactured on or before May 19, 1986. But “switches,” conversion devices that allow legal semi-automatic weapons to be essentially converted into machine guns, are popular and increasingly easy to access, Tanner said.

The sentiment about sentencing was echoed hours later by Gov. Henry McMaster, who was on Hilton Head Island for a chamber of commerce event. McMaster called the shooting “unfortunate,” and said these things happen because of “gaps and weaknesses in our law enforcement system.”

“You can’t just have laws. We passed laws upping sentences for people and offenders and all that. You can have all the laws in the world, but if you don’t have judges that understand all of that and enforce them and are serious about it then you’re going to keep on having this,” McMaster said, before adding that banning guns, in his view, is not the answer.

The investigation

After about three days of no concrete updates, the sheriff’s office held a press conference at 11 a.m. Wednesday. No arrests had been made, Tanner said, but he and his investigators conferred with a number of federal agencies on Sunday, including representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Tanner said on Wednesday his department was sending a number of firearms, projectiles and shell casings to SLED. The state’s analysis of the evidence would likely conclude sometime the following week, he added. Analysis of DNA found at the scene would take place at Beaufort County’s lab, Tanner said.

The shooting, Tanner said, happened as a result of a feud between two to three people. At least two of those people grew up in Beaufort County, Tanner said, but he did not say how many suspects were being sought.

By mid-week, the FBI — whose role in the investigation includes “digital media analysis” — launched a dedicated tips website for the incident, urging submissions of cellphone video or other recordings that captured the shooting.

Tanner was critical of community members who have information about the incident but decline to share it with law enforcement. On Friday, the sheriff’s department issued a plea to the community, urging witnesses to come forward with information.

“Please, if you witnessed the shooting or know anything about those responsible, come forward. Be courageous,” the department said. “Please help us give these families the answers they deserve and help make our community safer for everyone.” Community members were urged to contact the lead investigator on the case, Master Sergeant Duncan, by phone at 843-255-3418 or via email at TDuncan@bcgov.net.

Smart said oftentimes people don’t come forward because they’re afraid. “The way you have to think about it is nobody wants to put their family in jeopardy,” she said. “With all the different things that go on, you don’t know who to trust in those situations.”

The victims

In what would turn out to be the last moments of his life, Gary was working as a security guard at Willie’s. Several survivors told his family that they saw him trying to protect others until the very end, said his brother, Johnny Don Williams. In a social media post, Turral thanked Gary for his courage that “saved lives that night.”

Gary was a native of the Beaufort area and a father of two young boys. His brother described him as a “gentle giant” who liked to make people laugh and sent a daily text of prayer to family members every morning. Security was one of many jobs he worked to support his family. His loved ones called him “Junior.” A celebration of life service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Oct. 25, according to his obituary.

A’shan’tek Milledge, known as “Booda,” was a mother to two children: Princeton Hush and Promise Milledge.

“She was a mother, she was a hardworking, lovely lady. She left back her two young kids. She was a sweet, kind person. She loved her family, and she loved her children,” her cousin Antwan said.

Milledge’s celebration of life is scheduled for 10 a.m. Oct. 18.

Relatives 33-year-old Chiraad Smalls, known as “Roddi,” and his 22-year-old nephew, Kashawn “KK” Smalls-Glaze, also lost their lives in the shooting.

Smalls, a New York native, was a resident of the Beaufort area. Glaze was from nearby Port Royal.

“They were cherished by us all,” said Tawanna Smalls, Smalls’ sister and Glaze’s aunt.

Funeral arrangements for Smalls and Smalls-Glaze had not yet been announced.

The aftermath

As the investigation continues, families and friends of victims and community members are finding ways to cope with their grief.

The day after the shooting, a makeshift memorial with paper-cut flowers started to take shape outside of Willie’s.

A prayer circle was held in the Staples parking lot off Robert Smalls Parkway on Wednesday evening, led by Anita Singleton Prather, a Beaufort native and the matriarch of the Gullah Traveling Theatre.

“God, we pray for the parents, we pray for the family members, Lord. This whole entire community is mourning… Bring us together. We need your love, and your love, and your love and your love,” Prather prayed.

Beaufort Councilman Josh Scallate was also in attendance. He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, and from it, he read a prepared statement in front of 30 community members who had gathered. He urged attendees to not ignore the systemic issues at play that lead to tragedies.

“This tragedy did not emerge from nowhere. It grew from a world where mental health is too often ignored, where homes are fractured, where entertainment glorifies violence and where our young people are left without purpose or hope,” he said. “Our culture is losing its balance. The value of life itself feels diminished.”

Antwan Milledge and his wife, Sabrina, held a community prayer and vigil service outside their barbershop, Unique Cuts Barbershop, on Jennings Road.

The Beaufort County Black Chamber of Commerce held a prayer and dinner Thursday night. The room was packed, wall-to-wall, and family members, friends, neighbors and local leaders gathered in solidarity and to comfort one another.

Inspired by her own pastor, Executive Director Marilyn Harris said she felt the need to step in. She and the board decided to change their monthly networking event to a prayer vigil to offer a place for togetherness. Each table was anchored by a local pastor, offering spiritual guidance and a listening ear to those in attendance.

“In times like this, we often ask ‘why,’” said Pastor James E. Moore of Mouth Carmel Baptist Church in Seabrook. “But there is no one answer. In these moments, all we have to hold onto is our faith.”

This story was originally published October 19, 2025 at 6:00 AM.

Laura Finaldi

The Island Packet

203-885-9580

Laura Finaldi is an award-winning reporter and editor whose career has taken her everywhere from manufacturing companies in Massachusetts to dairy farms in rural Florida. Before joining the Island Packet in 2025, she was an editor at Homes.com in Richmond, Virginia and covered retail and tourism in Sarasota, Florida for five years. She has been published in the Worcester Business Journal, the Richmonder, Virginia Business, the Boston Globe and USA Today.