Coroner names 19-year-old who died in shootout with Hardeeville police
The Jasper County Coroner’s Office has identified a 19-year-old as the person killed during a shootout with Hardeeville police early Friday morning.
Jayden Holloway-Caldwell, a resident of the Pawleys Island area, was pronounced dead at Savannah’s Memorial Health University Medical Center on Friday, according to Coroner Jeremiah Vaigneur.
Pawleys Island is a barrier island south of Myrtle Beach with a year-round population of around 100. Holloway-Caldwell and his immediate family hailed from the more populated mainland near U.S. 17, according to his obituary.
The confrontation happened around 4 a.m. Friday at a Shell station on U.S. 17 (Whyte Hardee Boulevard) near Exit 5 of Interstate 95. Gunfire began “during an active law enforcement response,” the Hardeeville Police Department said.
A police officer who was injured in the shooting was also hospitalized and was in stable condition as of Friday morning, according to police.
One HPD officer who fired shots in the incident was placed on paid administrative leave as the investigation took place, Chief of Police Sam Woodward said.
The review would be conducted by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, whose agents investigate any shooting involving law enforcement statewide. The agency had not released a statement on the incident as of Monday morning.
Funeral arrangements for Holloway-Caldwell had not yet been scheduled, his obituary said.
Court records from Georgetown County, where Pawleys Island is located, show the teen had been found guilty of shoplifting, malicious injury to property and two counts of trespassing, all misdemeanors. The convictions were reached through absentia bench trials, meaning Holloway-Caldwell did not attend court as instructed and the trial was held without him.
Holloway-Caldwell had two pending felony charges for larceny from a vehicle, stemming from arrests within a week of each other in May 2025. In the first case, he was accused of smashing the window of a Range Rover and stealing a pocketbook inside, according to the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office.
Back-to-back incidents in GA, SC
It was the second officer-involved shooting in the Lowcountry in less than 24 hours. Mark Dennis Whibbey, Jr., of Beaufort County, died Thursday as a result of multiple gunshots fired by Savannah Police Department officers.
Savannah police were responding to a report that Whibbey was waving a firearm on West Congress Street. He was ordered to drop the gun, but continued walking north towards the Savannah River instead, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Whibbey “reached behind his back with his left hand toward an object in his rear waistband” and five SPD officers fired, striking him multiple times, GBI said.
This report will be updated.
This story was originally published January 26, 2026 at 11:22 AM.
