Richland County deputies charged 11 in four separate shootings, sheriff says
Richland County Sheriff’s Department has charged 11 people in four homicides from January to April, Sheriff Leon Lott announced Thursday.
“I hope the criminal justice system that we got does (its) job,” Lott said. “Right now, it’s cracked. It’s not working. . . . We got too many repeat offenders that are terrorizing our communities.”
The sheriff’s department charged:
- Jadon Harper, 18, with murder, burglary and grand larceny.
- Andre Arthur, 18, murder and burglary.
- Chance Jones, 19, murder and burglary.
- Durya Perry, 19, murder and burglary.
- Trenton Morris, 19, murder and burglary.
- Dedrick Garrick, 23, murder, armed robbery and weapon possession.
- Narelius Stephens, 24, murder, armed robbery and weapon possession.
- Jayuan Harrison, 19, murder and weapon possession.
- Winston Lobban, 20, murder and weapon possession.
- Jamaris Quattlebaum, 19, murder and weapon possession.
- Jonathan Paul Johnson, Jr, 17, murder.
The four Richland County shootings in which charges have been filed happened on Jan. 10 on Hickory Hill Road, Feb. 19 on Longcreek Drive, April 16 on Longwood Road, and April 17 on Garners Ferry Road.
On Jan. 10 Harper, Arthur, Jones, Perry and Morris are accused of breaking into the home of 81-year-old Lewis Jenerette, shooting him and stealing items including his car, deputies said.
On Feb. 19, deputies were called to 1601 Longcreek Drive about shots being fired. They found 19-year-old Saveon Robinson dead. Deputies charged Harrison, Lobban and Quattlebaum in the shooting.
Morris was also believed to be involved in the April 16 shooting at 1500 Longwood Road, Lott said. Morris, along with Garrick and Narelius, are accused of being involved in the robbery and shooting of 19-year-old Khalief Haltiwanger as he got out of a vehicle that all four men were in.
Johnson is accused of shooting and killing 17-year-old Desmond Wilson on April 17 in the breezeway of an apartment complex at 8100 Garners Ferry Road, deputies said.
At a Wednesday news conference, Lott showed video that he said was Johnson firing the fatal shots. In it, a person Lott identified as Johnson can be seen holding a long gun with an extended magazine and firing 14 shots, the sheriff said.
Johnson was charged as an adult despite being 17. South Carolina law allows people under 18 to be charged and tried as adults for certain crimes.
This year, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department has investigated 47 shooting cases with 12 dead, Lott said. That does not include cases that Columbia Police Department is investigating.
Age, community, ‘catch and release’
Lott expressed his frustration at the increase in gun violence among teenagers and people in their early 20s.
“Until people come together as a village,” Lott said, “we’re going to continue to lose our young people.”
As he has repeatedly expressed over the last year, Lott said that the problem with gun violence isn’t his department’s inability to solve crimes but an issue of needing to “change the hearts and minds” of young people.
When children are at a young age, parents and community services need to teach them to not resort to violence, Lott said.
Lott also put blame on what he called a “catch and release” system.
His investigators solve crimes, make arrests and file charges, only to find the people they’ve charged are let out of jail on bond or get out of prison on some type of release program, Lott said.
As an example, Lott said that Morris was wearing an ankle tracking monitor from a previous criminal charge when he was involved in the April shootings.
All of the people arrested in the four shootings have criminal records, Lott said.
“We got to get tough on the ones we need to get tough on,” Lott said. “That’s not everybody. But we know the ones who we need to get tough on.”
This story was originally published May 5, 2022 at 1:09 PM.