26-05-2025
Little River shooting latest episode of high-profile crimes since March
HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — Memorial Day weekend marks the traditional start of tourism season on the Grand Strand, when some 25 million people annually flock to the region for its sun-soaked beaches and family attractions.
Visitors making their way to the greater Myrtle Beach area this year are doing so amid a two-month spate of headline-grabbing crimes that include at least one mass shooting, multiple police chases and numerous arrests.
Here's a look back at some of the high-profile incidents since March.
Aaron Graydon Musick, 50, resigned March 10 from his job teaching physical education at Waterway Elementary School in Little River after being arrested on drug charges.
Musick had been 'acting differently' and was 'disheveled' and in an 'altered state of mind' while at work, according to a police report.
He also was 'late on multiple occasions' and 'failed required tests for his position at the school,' the report said. Musick was charged with possession with intent to distribute drugs near a school and manufacturing, distribution and possession of narcotics.
Musick has since been barred from all Horry County Schools campuses and is due back in court on May 30. The state Department of Education in April suspended his teaching certificate.
State law enforcement authorities broke up the first of two large-scale regional dogfighting operations on March 14, when 123 Kennels in Georgetown County was raided — officials seized 30 'pit-bull type dogs' and charged Edward Lee Moultrie Jr., 48, and his father, 78, with multiple counts of animal fighting and ill treatment of animals.
According to warrants, Moultrie Jr. had 30 'pit bull-type dogs' that he kept at his business, 123 Kennels. Many showed signs of being used for 'fighting or baiting' and were 'in a standard of care less than required by statute. Authorities found the dogs while searching the business on Tuesday.
Investigators found a personal online account dated Jan. 27 that tied Moultrie Jr. to the animals, the warrants said. It detailed the 'champion bloodline lineage' of one male dog he claimed to own as part of the kennel business and claimed that it had once won a fight lasting 24 minutes.
Some of the dogs had been 'subjected to necessary pain and suffering and 'tethered by heavy logging chains,' the warrants said. Some had also gone without proper medical care and had 'scarring consistent with dogfighting.'
The Moultries were booked into the Georgetown County Detention Center. Moultrie Jr. is being held on a $48,000 bond, according to booking records. Moultrie Sr. posted a $5,000 bond has was released.
During the first week of April, authorities dismantled a multi-county dog fighting ring in the Pee Dee that led to more than 100 animals being seized along with large amounts of drugs and weapons.
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division chief Mark Keel said an April 7 news conference that 11 people had been arrested at locations in Dillon and Marion counties.
Gov. Henry McMaster, who as attorney general in the early 2000s oversaw one of the biggest dog fighting cases ever, said the blood sport is a blemish on the state he loves.
'This is an unspeakable thing that's happening in our state,' he said. 'These dogs have been raised and made into mean animals, strong and ready to fight. When they get into that pit, usually only one gets out.'
Since 2023 when lawmakers created a dog fighting unit under SLED, more than 500 animals have been rescued — leading to 116 arrests on more than 470 charges, Keel said.
The problem is particularly bad in the Pee Dee, according to SLED stats. Of the 478 investigations carried out by its dog fighting unit, 203 have been in Darlington, Dillon and Marion counties — or 43%. The figure jumps to 243 when Georgetown County is included.
Hours after a late-night shooting on Myrtle Beach's Ocean Boulevard, authorities identified the gunman as 18-year-old Jerrius Davis of Bennettsville, who was shot and killed by an officer responding to the scene.
Eleven people were hurt in what police described as a large altercation. Three officers have been placed on paid administrative leave following the shooting — standard procedure as the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigates all officer-involved shootings.
On May 20, three people including a juvenile were taken into custody in connection with the incident, although not tied directly to the shooting.
Jaeishala Fox, the mother of Jerrius Davis, told News13 that her family has met with investigators from SLED about the shooting. SLED said Davis was 'armed' and 'shooting into a crowd,' an allegation that Fox disputes.
Ja'Niya Richburg was just ending an historic Loris High School basketball career when she was killed after a bullet sailed into her boyfriend's Conway home on Horry Street.
News13 spoke with Loris head coach Doug Gause in January, when Richburg officially recorded 1,000 career rebounds and 1,000 career points for the Lions — becoming the first player in school history to do so. Gause, at the time, said Richburg's impressive achievements were 'a testament to her hard work.'
Richburg had plans to enroll in pre-med at the University of South Carolina in the fall.
'It's always been my thing since I was younger,' she told News13 in January. 'I chose that because of the environment I'm always in, I want to go far and be able to provide for my family. I want to envision myself as the best I could be, you know, getting through school and having people to motivate me along the way. I should be okay; I have faith in myself.'
Conway police on May 2 charged 19-year-old Derrick Que'swhan Ashley with Richburg's murder.
Horry County authorities seized more than 25 pounds of fentanyl with a street value of more than $1 million May 9 after a pursuit that ended with a crash near Pine Island Road in Myrtle Beach.
Police later identified Omega Junior Wilson as the suspect, who was charged with failure to stop for a blue light with great bodily injury and trafficking in fentanyl. The chase happened at about 4 p.m., and at least one bystander was hurt.
Police were able to retrieve the items that were thrown from the vehicle, which amounted to 25.3 pounds of fentanyl. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, one kilogram of the drug can produce up to 1.5 million pill dosage units and has the potential to kill 500,000 people.
'Long story short — a lot of people could and would be harmed if these drugs were left out in the community,' HCPD said in the Facebook post.
Four people face a range of charges after a string of robberies along Highway 17 and N. Kings Highway — including one in the parking lot of Broadway at the Beach.
The first incident happened in the 1100 block of Celebrity Circle, the parking lot of Broadway at the Beach, where two victims were approached at gunpoint and robbed while at their vehicle, police said.
A second, similar incident happened in the 2200 block of N. Ocean Boulevard, where two people approached a man in the parking lot, robbed him at gunpoint, and fled, according to police.
The third incident happened in the 4000 block of N. Kings Highway, where a woman — a Burky's employee — was inside the restaurant when her partner's vehicle was shot at as he waited to pick her up around 11:30 p.m.
A fourth incident happened in the 6600 block of Colonial Drive, where a man was taken from a parking lot at gunpoint and forced to withdraw cash from an ATM before he was released, police said. The suspects hit the victim, who is now in the hospital, in the back of the head. It happened at about 1:30 a.m.
Two people were charged and two others released after an intense May 22 pursuit that included police being shot at as they tried to stop the armed, masked suspects traveling in a stolen vehicle along Highway 17 Bypass.
Capt. John Evans with the Myrtle Beach Fire Department said that the pursuit started in Market Common and went along Farrow Parkway. Police later clarified that the pursuit began in the area of Twilight Surf Motel off 17th Ave. South.
Around 8:30 a.m., Horry County police were asked to assist MBPD as the suspect was seen driving the wrong way in traffic at 'excessive speeds,' HCPD said.
The suspect's vehicle wrecked near 67th Avenue North and North Highway 17.
Riley Pegram, 17, of Brown Summit, N.C., and Omarion Glass, 20, of Greensboro, were both denied bond on Friday.
Glass is scheduled to appear in court again on July 25. News13 was present during the bond hearing on Friday, where Christopher White, the lead investigator for the case, said Glass was shooting an AR style rifle during the Thursday incident.
A Myrtle Beach police officer also said that it was 'something out of a movie.'
A dozen people were hurt after a series of fights broke out early Sunday morning at the Memorial Day Black Pearl Cultural Heritage and Bike Festival in Atlantic Beach, the town's police chief told News13.
'There were a couple of fights that broke out, causing panic in the crowd and several people were injured trying to leave the area,' Chief Carlos Castillo Jr. said. 'Adequate police and medical staff were on hand to aid as needed and transport individuals to the hospital.'
Horry County Fire Rescue said Sunday afternoon that 12 people sustained non life-threatening injuries and six others signed medical waivers on scene.
Ten people sustained gunshot wounds in a mass shooting in Little River on Sunday night, Horry County police said.
The Watson Avenue incident left another person with an unknown, non-gunfire-related injury, HCPD said. The worst of the injured are in critical but stable condition at area hospitals.
So far, police have not identified a suspect or suspects, but say the shooting was an 'isolated event that resulted from an altercation during a private Memorial Day weekend gathering on a charter boat.' Police said the boat was docked when the shooting ensued.
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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.
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