Second person charged in murder of Midlands man on New Year’s Day attack, SC cops say
A second Midlands man was charged with murder, among other crimes, for his part in a deadly shooting on New Year’s Day, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.
Anthony Nathaniel Bradley, 26, was charged with murdering Montrell Epps, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Deputy Adrienne Sarvis said in a news release.
Two months following the shooting, and a little more than a month after Deontae Jackson was charged with murder, Bradley was arrested, according to the release.
Additional charges were filed against the 20-year-old Jackson Feb. 27, when Bradley was arrested, police said.
Between Dec. 31, 2019, and Jan. 1, 2020, Bradley and Jackson planned to fire into Epps’ vehicle while he was inside, Sarvis reported.
Epps’ body was found off of McCrays Mill Road on the morning of New Year’s Day, the sheriff’s office said. That is in the area near Sumter High School.
The 23-year-old’s body was discovered at about 4:30 a.m., after the sheriff’s office said it was conducting a property check after seeing Epps’ car parked “in the area.”
In addition to murder, Bradley was also charged with criminal conspiracy, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and discharging a firearm into a vehicle, jail records show.
He was denied bond on all charges and is being held at the Sumter-Lee Regional Detention Center.
Bradley was in custody at the jail on an unrelated incident when he was charged with Epps’ murder, Sarvis said.
The Sumter man is awaiting trial on charges, including drug possession, removing or destroying an electronic monitoring device, multiple weapons crimes, and several driving violations, jail records show.
He’s scheduled to appear again in court on March 12.
Like Bradley, Jackson is also a Sumter resident who is currently behind bars in the detention center.
Jackson was previously charged with murder, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime when he was arrested on Jan. 27 in Richland County, Sarvis said.
His new charges include discharging a weapon into a vehicle and criminal conspiracy, according to the release.
He’s scheduled to appear again in court on March 13, according to jail records.
In 2019, Jackson was convicted on several charges in Sumter County, court records show. He was recommended for shock incarceration after pleading guilty to failure to stop for blue lights, multiple counts of forgery, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
He was sentenced to 30 days in jail in 2018 after being convicted on a drug charge, according to court records.
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