Chalmers RoglandHerald-Journal
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Three men were charged last week for their role in yet another Spartanburg County deadly shooting. Warrants allege that during the early hours of Sunday, Oct. 16., Nafis Holt, Reginald Henderson, and Tinaszia Taylor shot and killed Georgio Littlejohn, 29.
The shooting, which occurred in the parking lot of Twerkerz Bar & Grill on South Church St. Ext., is the latest in a spate of gun violence in Spartanburg County. October and the latter half of September left nine dead from six separate homicide incidents.
Lt. Kevin Bobo of the Sheriff's Office said the last month has constituted a spike in violent crime.
According to data from the Spartanburg Police Department and the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office, 17 of the 21 homicidal incidents in 2022 have involved the use of firearms.
The Sheriff's Office responded to 19 of these incidents. A total of 23 people died in those incidents.
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There have been two homicides in municipal Spartanburg this year, down from nine incidents resulting in 14 deaths in 2021. Both 2022 homicides occurred within a 10-day window during late May, and one of the crimes remains unsolved.
Two of the county homicides this year happened at the Quail Pointe apartment complex on E. Blackstock Rd., and resulted in a total of six arrests. Bobo said that the Sheriff's Office considers Quail Pointe a hotspot for violent crime "at times," but did not specify any other hotspots in the county.
Back in March, four men were arrested and charged with the murder of Paris Janai Kennedy, 21. Then, on July 27, JaQwuan Tamar Mills, 24, was shot and killed at the apartment complex.
Two juveniles were arrested for Mills' death. All four of those charged in Kennedy's death were 21 years of age or younger at the time of the shooting.
Jack Logan, founder of Put Down the Guns Now Young People, has put a premium on encouraging young people to avoid gun violence. He started the nonprofit, which is a national partner with the National Shooting Sports Foundation and has a presence all over the state, in 2008 as a consequence of the Dec. 2004 death of Tavaris Howze, 21, who was a Spartanburg Methodist College student at the time.
"We try to prevent children from being hurt by guns, we try to educate them not to pick up guns," Logan said. "But at the same time, we stand against malice against adults."
Logan says the organization has hosted teen job fairs, distributed over 20,000 gun locks, and looks to help legislate harsher sentencing for those who perpetrate gun violence. While he believes in legal gun ownership, he believes people are generally receptive to his organization's message, and that change starts in the home.
"People are fed up with this gun violence," Logan said. "What mother will get a call saying her son or daughter has been murdered next? They just want their child to come home at night."
In 2021 the Highland neighborhood near John B. White Blvd. saw the highest concentration of violent crime within city limits. The 2022 data collection by the city is not yet complete.
To date, 2022 has seen multiple instances of intrafamilial victimization, homicides ruled accidental, and law enforcement-involved deaths.
The Spartanburg Police Department and county Sheriff's Office both fully reported crime data to SLED and the FBI in 2021. The SPD covers a jurisdiction population of 37,000 and the Sheriff's Office covers a population of 250,000.
SPD Chief Alonzo Thompson has stressed the need for citizen responsibility when it comes to avoidable firearm incidents.
"Look at the data - and we get this on a monthly basis - generally around 70% of the auto break-ins that we have, the vehicle is unlocked. And normally, if it's one of those, we lose two to three handguns," Thompson said.
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The city's late July gun buyback program was one solution brought forth by the city to the issue of unsecured and unwanted firearms by civilian owners.
Sheriff Chuck Wright has emphasized civilian participation with unsolved homicides. Citizen tips contributed to the three Twerkerz arrests, made on Oct. 25-26.
"I totally understand when you're out there and all the shooting has just happened and you're afraid to talk, but you don't have to be afraid to talk now," Wright said on Oct. 18.
Lt. Bobo also credited witness input for arrests made in the July Quail Pointe homicide.
"We wouldn’t be at this point if not for the cooperation of the witnesses at the scene, which is unusual, but sincerely appreciated," Bobo said.
Here is a breakdown of some of the violent gun crimes in Spartanburg in September and October:
Five dead in shooting in Inman at home considered haven for drug use - Oct. 9
Four men were found dead at a residence in Inman on Bobo Drive and another was declared dead after being transported to the hospital for surgery.
On Oct. 10, the Burke County Sheriff's Office in Georgia arrested James Douglas Drayton, 24, for armed robbery and kidnapping. After running the information of the car Drayton was driving, Spartanburg Sheriff's Deputies were contacted and obtained a confession from Drayton in the deaths of the five men.
The home was considered a haven for drug use by the Sheriff's Office, and Wright says both Drayton and the victims were all on methamphetamine at the time of the crime.
"We got to keep fighting this drug epidemic, we got an addiction issue with illegal drugs," Wright said.
Thompson and Wright have both singled out fentanyl as particularly troubling. The SPD regularly employs the use of Narcan and deployed the potentially life-saving measure more in 2021 than in any year dating back to 2016.
"We are in the life-saving business," Thompson said.
The SPD, along with Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Spartanburg Water, hosted a "prescription drug disposal" event at the Garner Rd. CVS in Spartanburg.
"The SPD and DEA will give the public its 22nd opportunity in eleven years to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs," the SPD said via an Oct. 26 press release.
Homicide at Twerkerz Bar & Grill - Oct. 16
⊳Georgio Shavonte Littlejohn, 29, was shot and killed outside of Twerkerz Bar & Grill on S. Church St. Ext. Another man was grazed by a bullet, but sustained only minor injuries, according to the Sheriff's Office.
On Oct. 18, Sheriff Chuck Wright and Littlejohn's family held a press conference asking the public for assistance in helping catch the man responsible.
"We can't do this by ourselves. I don't have a crystal ball, if I had a crystal ball there would be no crimes that were unsolved," Wright said. "I pray that the person who did this will be tormented until he confesses or talks to somebody about it."
At a subsequent Oct. 28 press conference, Wright credited civilian tips that poured in and helped sign the arrest warrants for Nafis Holt, 27, Reginald Henderson, 23, and Tinaszia Taylor, 25.
Shooting at Piedmont Interstate Fair - Oct. 15
⊳A shooting occurred at the Piedmont Interstate Fair at 575 Fairgrounds Rd in Spartanburg. The case is still under active investigation.
The Piedmont Interstate Fair released this statement following the Saturday, Oct. 15 shooting.
"This evening an unfortunate event happened at the fairgrounds where a young member of our community was shot by another young member of our community. The victim is in stable condition at Spartanburg Regional Hospital, having been treated by onsite EMS. On-site law enforcement responded quickly to the incident. Upon recommendation of law enforcement, the fair was closed for the safety of our patrons," the statement read.
Man charged with murdering grandmother in Cowpens - Oct. 13
⊳The Sheriff's Office charged Daniel Travis Horton, 41, of assaulting and murdering his grandmother, Betty Doris Horton, at a residence on Battleground Rd. in Cowpens. Bobo said no weapon was involved in the commission of the crime, and court records do not show Horton facing any weapons charges.
Horton did not confess under questioning, but forensic evidence on him and at the scene, combined with statements from the witnesses led to enough probable cause for him to be charged, the Sheriff's Office said.
Two months prior to Horton being charged, a Laurens man was charged with murdering his brother in Greer. Dustin Simmons, 40, claimed he acted in self-defense, but was arrested by the Sheriff's Office and charged following evidence examination and witness interviews.
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Involuntary manslaughter death in Inman - Sept. 23
The Sheriff's Office charges James Marcus Turner, 21, of Inman with involuntary manslaughter for shooting during a "quick draw" contest. Turner and the victim were friends and had known each other since middle school.
After the pair had engaged in 14 rounds of the contest without incident, Turner discharged the firearm.
"The routine was for both parties to start out with unloaded firearms, then insert a loaded clip without chambering a round, and then pulling the trigger," Lt. Kevin Bobo of the Sheriff's Office said. "On the 15th time that night, [Turner] stated he accidentally chambered a round from the clip in his gun due to muscle memory, and when he pulled the trigger, he tragically shot his friend by mistake."
3-year-old shoots, kills mother in Spartanburg - Sept. 21
The first of two instances of a fatal "accident" involving firearms in three days, a three-year-old child shoots and kills their mother with an unsecured firearm at a residence on South Pine St. The account by the child's grandmother corroborated the evidence on the scene, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Thompson commented on the "terrible" incident days later and has emphasized responsible gun ownership, imploring citizens to secure firearms safely to prevent both theft and incidents such as this.
"We're not anti-2nd Amendment. A lot of us have side arms," Thompson said. "What we do want is responsible gun owners. So if you have a gun, make sure it's secured."
The city and SPD hosted a gun buyback event in late July in order to give citizens a way to hand in unwanted and unneeded firearms. The buyback initiative yielded 165 firearms turned in, including 115 handguns, 29 shotguns, and 14 rifles.
