Detective says 2 victims were ‘executed’: Rock Hill teen charged in shooting deaths
A police detective used the word “executed” Thursday afternoon in Rock Hill Municipal Court to describe a Tuesday night shooting incident that left three South Carolina teenagers dead, and one now facing murder charges.
However, it remained unclear what provoked the violence, or why one teen who had been wounded would allegedly return to the shooting scene to fatally shoot two already-wounded victims.
Ahmik Coleman, 17, of Rock Hill, is charged as an adult with two counts of murder, according to arrest warrants obtained by The Herald from the Rock Hill Police Department. He was wounded amid the shooting.
Three other teenagers were killed.
Those who died are Kam’ran Brevard, 16, and Evanta Hart, 17, both of Rock Hill, according to York County Coroner Sabrina Gast. Omarian Small, 16, of Lake Wylie, also was killed, the coroner said.
Thursday was Coleman’s first court appearance after he was arrested Wednesday night. Police did not say how Coleman was arrested.
What happened?
The violence started after 10 p.m. between teens sitting in a parked car and another group in the road, Rock Hill Police Detective Tayler Tucker said Thursday afternoon in court.
A police department news release earlier this week gave details of the incident.
“Detectives were able to establish this chain of events and issued two murder warrants for Coleman,” the police statement said.
According to the release, Coleman, Small and an unidentified male were sitting in a parked vehicle on Gist Road when Brevard and Hart approached the car and fired shots.
Small, in the driver seat, was fatally wounded, police said.
Coleman, in the front passenger seat, was wounded in the hand and fired back at the two teens in the street, the police statement said. Brevard and Hart were wounded, police said in the statement.
A third teen in the back seat of the car ran from the shooting scene, police said. They have not identified that teen and no other information has been provided.
Coleman fled the scene but returned.
“After an initial exchange of gunfire the two teenage victims (Hart and Brevard) were wounded and laying on the ground,” Tucker said in court. “The defendant then returned to the scene and executed them by shooting and killing them.”
It’s illegal for teens to have guns
Tucker did not say in court what the dispute was about, or what the relationship was between the teens.
Police also have not released how the teens were able to obtain guns. It is illegal under South Carolina law for anyone under age 18 to possess a handgun.
Mother of one victim says she forgives suspect
A woman who identified herself as Hart’s mother, Jacqulin Watson, said in court Thursday that she forgave Coleman and she does not want anyone else hurt.
Watson said she only learned Thursday of the police allegations that Coleman returned to the scene and fatally shot the two wounded victims.
“I never knew until now my son had a chance to live until he (Coleman) came back and finished him off,” Watson told Rock Hill Municipal Court Judge Tony Triano.
A victim advocate read in court a letter from the Brevard family that said the Brevard family is hurt by the killing.
Suspect silent in court
Coleman faces the possibility of up to life in prison if convicted of murder. That charge carries a minimum of 30 years in South Carolina for each conviction.
Coleman appeared in court with an injured hand bandaged and an arm in a sling.
Coleman did not speak except to say he understood the charges against him.
His court-appointed lawyer, Melissa Inzerillo of the York County Public Defender’s Office, did not address the allegations in court and declined comment on the case.
Bond denied, and what happens now
Triano denied bond to Coleman.
Triano said in court that municipal judges can not set bond for any charge that carries 30 or more years in prison.
Coleman will be held without bail at the Moss Justice Center jail in York, records show.
He and his lawyers can request a preliminary hearing that would determine probable cause for his arrest.
For any case to go to trial, a York County grand jury would have to first issue indictments. It remains unclear when the case will be heard by a grand jury or when Coleman will next appear in court.
This story was originally published April 28, 2022 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Detective says 2 victims were ‘executed’: Rock Hill teen charged in shooting deaths."
