North Charleston man sentenced to 2 years in prison for role in George Floyd protests
A North Charleston man who narrated, filmed and live-streamed himself looting was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in the civil unrest that erupted in downtown Charleston last summer.
Orlando Shalrocko King, 32, pleaded guilty last fall to the charges.
On Tuesday, he was sentenced to 24 months in prison followed by 36 months of supervised release, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. There is no parole in the federal system.
King pleaded guilty to unlawful travel to incite destructive riots in the May 2020 riots in downtown Charleston, as well as a possession of a firearm by a prohibited felon.
While the maximum sentence for traveling to incite violence is five years and possession of a firearm from a prohibited felon carries a 10-year maximum sentence, the court lowered King’s sentence as part of a plea agreement.
However, acting U.S. Attorney Rhett DeHart said in a release that this sentence sends a message.
“Last summer’s riots were a dark day in Charleston’s history,” DeHart said. “Prison time is appropriate in this case and sends a message that this behavior will not be tolerated in South Carolina.”
King is the fourth person in South Carolina to be sentenced on federal charges stemming from protests and civil disorder in Columbia and Charleston last summer.
Last summer, after peaceful protesters marched to mourn the death of Floyd, a large riot broke out in downtown Charleston. Fires and looting broke out that night, resulting in 32 arrests and more than $2 million in property damage to the city’s historic downtown corridor, according to an after-action report later released by the city.
Evidence presented to the court showed numerous people, including King, forced their way into the College Market store on downtown King Street.
The attorney’s office said the looters stole approximately $80,000 in store merchandise and shattered the store’s windows.
King reportedly documented the entire thing, live-streaming the crimes on his Facebook page.
“We’re in the corner store! Stealing s---!” King could be heard saying in the video.
In another part of the video, King declared that he was looking for Angry Orchard, a hard cider beer. The attorney’s office said King’s own video showed him stealing a six-pack of the beer.
When King left the store, he said, “We just broke into the corner store and I got my Angry Orchard. Y’all know I love my s---.”
In addition to pleading guilty to a violation of the Anti-Riot Act, King also pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm that stemmed from an unrelated incident that happened on April 25, 2020.
In that incident, the attorney’s office said North Charleston police officers found a 9mm pistol in King’s jacket pocket. The gun was reported stolen, and King was prohibited from possessing the gun due to a prior 2008 armed robbery conviction, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Evidence presented to the court showed officers had been able to apprehend King because they recognized him from a Facebook live video that showed him firing a gun outside a driver’s side car window.
According to a court filing in his federal case, King previously served nine years in the South Carolina Department of Corrections. The filing said he is now “motivated to change his life.”
The May 25 killing of Floyd, a Black man whose final breaths were captured on a bystander’s cellphone video that showed him gasping under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis, ignited a call for police reform on a scale not seen since the civil rights movement.
Massive gatherings for racial justice cropped up across the country, with protesters demanding justice in the streets.
In Charleston, the protests had been largely peaceful.
But on the night of May 30 and the early morning hours of May 31, peaceful protest in the Holy City gave way to a violent night of civil unrest.
An after-action report prepared by the Charleston Police Department, which outlined what happened from the perspective of law enforcement, detailed what unfolded nearly every hour as police responded to the protests and riots that weekend.
Among the findings, the report found that authorities had developed an insufficient plan with no contingency in place to respond to the protests, which turned violent and overwhelmed officers as day turned to night
This story was originally published August 24, 2021 at 5:30 PM.
