Hardeeville man charged with murder after gunshot victim found dead in garage
A 28-year-old Hardeeville resident is behind bars after a man was found shot to death inside a garage Monday morning.
Duane Loren Bentley Jr. was charged Monday with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies responded to a reported shooting Monday morning in the 800 block of Old Charleston Highway, about three miles northwest of downtown Hardeeville.
Inside a residential garage in the area, police found an adult male who had died of multiple gunshot wounds, the JCSO said.
Bentley was identified as the alleged shooter and booked at the Jasper County Detention Center. Because his murder charge carries the possibility of a life sentence, South Carolina law requires his bond to be set by a circuit court judge; circuit court resumes in Jasper County the week of Feb. 16.
The Jasper County Coroner’s Office had not identified the man who was killed as of noon Tuesday.
Public records list Bentley’s address in the 800 block of Old Charleston Highway, although it was unclear whether the shooting happened at his home.
Two recent deadly shootings in Hardeeville area
Monday morning’s homicide was the second fatal shooting incident in the Hardeeville area in the span of four days.
Around 4:30 a.m. Friday, an armed teen suspected of trying to enter parked vehicles in a Super 8 motel parking lot was killed in a shootout with Hardeeville police. One officer was shot and subsequently hospitalized, officials said, and was reportedly in stable condition later Friday morning.
The teen killed was identified as 19-year-old Jayden Holloway-Caldwell, a resident of the Pawleys Island area.
State agents with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division are investigating the shooting.
