Latest news with #OceanBoulevard
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Tourists visit downtown Myrtle Beach despite recent violence. What they said
Three-year-old Kashtyn Grogan hoists up a new set of toy tools he won for 2,500 tickets at the Fun Plaza on Ocean Boulevard. His mom Kaitlyn Grogan browses the prizes to budget the 1,600 extra tickets her son won at the Willy Wonka game. He and his two younger brothers are on vacation at Myrtle Beach for the start of the summer. Friday evening kicked off with a stormy start, with winds powerful enough to tear down fences surrounding the Pavilion Park and knock over trash cans. Many visitors sought refuge in local restaurants or their hotel rooms before the night got started after the sun set, when dozens of young people walked up and down the boulevard to play arcade games, eat funnel cake, and gawk at the modified trucks cruising down the traffic funnel. 'You don't even remember me,' Kaitlyn Speaks shouted at an employee at an airbrush T-shirt vendor. Speaks goes to Myrtle Beach every year, she said. She's downtown for a girls' trip and a wedding with her friend Emma Mullins as she brushes off another sales pitch from the persistent employee. 'We're beefing with him right now,' Mullins said as she scoops up a bite of funnel cake. The employee threw up his hands and turned to coax more passers-by for a sale. They all walk on and wish him a nice night. 'Y'all want a T-shirt?' he said. 'I'm just bored as hell.' Soon after, Issac Shinault from Greensboro, NC, cruises by on a Onewheel electric skateboard and a bucket of roses. He rolls up and down the boulevard handing them out to children, and even one of the shopkeepers waves him down with a dollar in hand. 'I'm just here to spread positivity,' he said. 'There's never a bad reason for flowers.' Henry and Cheryl Seaborn from St. Louis, MO, joke with each other as they meander down the boardwalk. They said they feel safe while walking downtown. 'It can't be worse than Washington, D.C.,' Henry Seaborn said. 'I ain't seen too many criminal-looking people around here.' 'Speak for yourself,' Cheryl Seaborn said. Grogan said her family has paid attention to when the bike week comes to town. 'If we were here last week with what happened in Little River, I would not feel safe,' she said and pointed to her two sons in a beach cart. Myrtle Beach Police officers patrolled the streets after dark. They're keeping a watchful eye out for any commotion and offering directions to families and summer party-goers. There was a tragedy not too long ago on the strip where these families visit. Business has been much slower since April, one shop employee lamented. This time last year, many more people were coming into his shop, he said. On April 26 at 11:50 p.m., 18-year-old Jerrius Davis fired his gun on North Ocean Boulevard near 9th Avenue North. A Myrtle Beach Police officer returned fire, hitting and killing the Bennettsville teenager. The Myrtle Beach Police Department released dash cam footage of the incident on May 29. The footage showed Davis bending over to reach for a gun and firing it into a crowd. He was then pursued within seconds by Officer Brandon O'Rourke, who is shown firing his gun five times and killing Davis while running down Ocean Boulevard as Davis fled into a crowd. The incident injured 11 people. It is unclear what victims were injured by Davis' gunfire or O'Rourke's. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is still investigating the incident. O'Rourke and two other officers who responded to the incident, Mohamad El-Kelwi and Jeramiah Johnson were put on paid leave during the investigation and have since been put back on the job, according to a video released by Myrtle Beach police. Two of the people injured in the incident include 13-year-old Zavian Hairston of Virginia and 15-year-old Serenity Chavis of North Carolina. Chavis has claimed Myrtle Beach police shot her that night.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
After shootings in Myrtle Beach, here's a look at what the downtown ambassadors do
Steady foot traffic along Ocean Boulevard in the early evening hours on Friday before the thunderstorm was met by men in yellow polo shirts. Those men are Gold Cap Ambassadors, a taxpayer funded program by the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance, and they were doing their job to keep the main drag of Ocean Boulevard between 9th and 16th Avenues clean. Carrying plastic buckets and armed with trash pickers, the ambassadors made their way up and down Ocean Boulevard picking up food wrappers, napkins and cigarette butts. A golf cart in the same color yellow as the polo shirts was parked right in front of the SkyWheel, and was utilized to drive the filled trash buckets away. While the ambassadors were walking around Ocean Boulevard early on Friday evening, there was no visible Myrtle Beach Police Department presence, including officers, cars or golf carts. Just before 6 p.m. an unmarked black Dodge with a uniform officer drove southbound along Ocean Boulevard. Two of the four out on Friday wore 'ambassador-in-training' shirts. They both declined to comment when asked about their new jobs. A third gold cap ambassador also declined to comment when approached by The Sun News. John Pellish, was picking up garbage just before 6 p.m. across the street from the Gay Dolphin Gift Cove. Originally from Pennsylvania, Pellish said he's been an ambassador since this past February and has lived in Myrtle Beach for the past three years. 'I like it down here and I like to see the city clean,' he said when asked why he wanted to become an ambassador. During a typical shift, Pellish said he picks a zone downtown and takes a plastic gallon bucket and a trash picker and cleans up leftover litter. 'We talk to everybody, help the homeless if they want it and watch out for everybody,' he said about the community interaction part of his job. If there's an emergency downtown, Pellish said he and all the other ambassadors have a radio that they can call back to their headquarters. From there, he said, someone at the main offices on the other end of the radio will call the police. Concerns about safety along Ocean Boulevard have escalated after the busy summer season started with multiple shootings and violent crime events. In the wake of the events, questions arose about how safe downtown Myrtle Beach really is and what safety measures are taxpayer funded. In addition to paying for Myrtle Beach Police Department officers to patrol downtown and implement a flushing traffic pattern to make way for emergency vehicles, taxpayers are also funding the Ambassadors program through the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance. The program was started five years ago in 2020 with the goals of improving the cleanliness and safety perceptions of downtown Myrtle Beach. 'Their duties do not replace any city services or supplement police, rather work as an extra set of eyes and ears for our multiple levels of enforcement including the police but also code enforcement and public works,' a job description of the gold cap ambassadors reads on a city-run website. At a Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance board meeting earlier this month on May 15, board members approved their budget for the next fiscal year, pending the approval of the City of Myrtle Beach's final budget by the city council. According to a slide at the meeting, the ambassadors walk approximately eight miles a day during their shift. On Friday and Saturday night, the MBDA has five ambassadors on shift from 1:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Many of the violent crimes committed downtown this summer have occurred after 10 p.m., according to previous reporting. A large chunk of the MBDA's budget is devoted to increasing the number of gold cap ambassadors downtown by four for the 2026 fiscal year. In April, the MBDA spent $54,473.62 on the ambassador program. In 2025 through the end of April, the MBDA spent $534,101.09 on the ambassadors, making it the organization's second largest expense of the year behind management and overhead. The program will be increasing its cost by 34%, a slide at the MBDA budget meeting showed. That will increase the cost to almost a million dollars, or $877,564.99, with the addition of four extra ambassadors to help serve the south end of downtown. In total, the MBDA's fiscal year budget for 2026 is $2,386,128.84, meeting documents stated. MBDA spokesperson Michelle Cantey said after the meeting that the expansion plans were already in place before the fatal North Ocean Boulevard shooting on April 26. She added that gold cap ambassadors are not a replacement for law enforcement downtown, but are meant to answer questions and be a friendly presence.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
1 person shot along S. Ocean Blvd. in Myrtle Beach
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.(WBTW) — Myrtle Beach police are investigating a shooting along South Ocean Boulevard that sent a person to the hospital. Officers responded to the 1400 block shortly before 6 p.m. on Saturday. The person's condition was not immediately disclosed. An increased law enforcement presence will remain in the area as the investigation continues. People are asked to avoid the area. Anyone with information should call (843) 918-1382. * * * Adam Benson joined the News13 digital team in January 2024. He is a veteran South Carolina reporter with previous stops at the Greenwood Index-Journal, Post & Courier and The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. Adam is a Boston native and University of Utah graduate. Follow Adam on X, formerly Twitter, at @AdamNewshound12. See more of his work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
1 person shot along S. Ocean Blvd. in Myrtle Beach
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.(WBTW) — Myrtle Beach police are investigating a shooting along South Ocean Boulevard that sent a person to the hospital. Officers responded to the 1400 block shortly before 6 p.m. on Saturday. The person's condition was not immediately disclosed. An increased law enforcement presence will remain in the area as the investigation continues. People are asked to avoid the area. Anyone with information should call (843) 918-1382. * * * Adam Benson joined the News13 digital team in January 2024. He is a veteran South Carolina reporter with previous stops at the Greenwood Index-Journal, Post & Courier and The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. Adam is a Boston native and University of Utah graduate. Follow Adam on X, formerly Twitter, at @AdamNewshound12. See more of his work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Yahoo
Officer-involved shooting on Ocean Boulevard deemed ‘justifiable homicide,' police report shows
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — A Myrtle Beach police officer's use of deadly force to stop a man from shooting into a large crowd along Ocean Boulevard last month was ruled a 'justifiable homicide' by the agency. The Myrtle Beach Police Department on Friday released incident reports stemming from the April 16 incident at 913 S. Ocean Blvd. that left 18-year-old Jerrius Davis of Bennettsville dead and 11 others injured. 'During the altercation, one of the individuals began firing a weapon. At that time, based on the immediate threat, an officer responded by discharging their firearm,' the incident report states. 'The individual shot during the officer's response has passed away as a result of his injuries.' The report doesn't name which officer fired at Davis. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating, as is standard procedure in any officer-involved shooting. The confrontation was at least the 25th instance of gun violence along Ocean Boulevard since 2020, according to a News13 analysis. Officials said days after the shooting that three officers are on paid leave. * * * Adam Benson joined the News13 digital team in January 2024. He is a veteran South Carolina reporter with previous stops at the Greenwood Index-Journal, Post & Courier and The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. Adam is a Boston native and University of Utah graduate. Follow Adam on X, formerly Twitter, at @AdamNewshound12. See more of his work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
