Seven people indicted in connection with July 4 Hilton Head shooting
Seven suspects have been indicted in relation to the July 4 shooting that injured eight people on Hilton Head Island’s Coligny Beach, officials announced Friday.
The Beaufort County Grand Jury handed out a long list of indictments related to the shooting on Thursday, according to comments from 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone during a Friday press conference.
Stone read out a list of the indictments along with the maximum sentences they carry. All the suspects in the case will be charged as adults, Stone said, and some face more than 60 years of prison time.
“All of these defendants are presumed innocent and will remain so until they are convicted in a court of law,” Stone said.
Who was indicted?
Five suspects have been indicted on two counts each of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. They are Jayden Lorenzo Hawes, 18, Quazier Rasheem Davis, 17, Marcello Lopez Royal, 17, Jacob Malik Johnson, 22, and Andre Nyciere-Richard Greene. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, Stone said.
All five also face multiple counts of assault and battery second-degree, which carries a maximum of three years per count. All but Davis were indicted on four counts; Davis was indicted on three counts.
The five were also indicted for breach of peace of a high and aggravated nature, which carries up to 10 years, and for possession of a firearm either during a violent crime or under the age of 18, which carries up to five years.
Altogether, each face up to 67 years of prison time, with Davis facing up to 64.
Christopher Capers, 17, of St. Helena Island, was indicted for accessory after the fact, a charge that carries up to 15 years of prison time.
Amarion Jameer Riley, 22, of Ridgeland, was indicted for possession of a machine gun, which carries up to 10 years, and breach of peace of a high and aggravated nature.
Bond settings for Hawes, Davis, Royal, Greene, and Johnson will be held Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Beaufort County Judicial Center, Stone said.
A timeline of arrests
Hawes, Davis, Royal and Capers were arrested the evening of July 4 shortly after the shooting.
Police arrested Johnson on July 8 and Riley on July 10. The seventh suspect, Greene, was arrested Tuesday with the assistance of the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office.
The case is still under active investigation, according to Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner.
How did the shooting occur?
At 8:21 p.m. on July 4, police received multiple calls of shots fired near the Coligny Beach public beach access volleyball court, with deputies arriving within 17 seconds because of heavy holiday police presence, Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said at a press conference.
The gunfire stemmed from a dispute between two individual groups that escalated into a fistfight, with shots erupting shortly after the first punch was thrown.
Police used the town’s Flock camera system to locate a suspect vehicle shortly after, and performed a traffic stop on Cross Island Parkway on the Charles E. Fraser Bridge at 9:07 p.m. All six occupants in the vehicle were detained, and four were eventually charged.
