Teen charged with murder after months-long manhunt, Columbia police say
A teenager was charged with murder two months after a shooting at an apartment complex, the Columbia Police Department said Wednesday.
In addition to murder, 19-year-old Kevin Darnell Jowers Jr. was also charged with possession of a weapon during a violent crime, police said in a news release.
On Aug. 23, Travis K. Sutton Jr. was shot, according to the release. The 20-year-old Columbia resident was taken to an area hospital where he died the following day, The State previously reported.
The shooting happened at North Pointe Estates on Ripplemeyer Avenue, police said. That’s in the area between Columbia College and the Colony Apartments.
Responding officers found Sutton outside the apartment complex after receiving a Shotspotter alert, according to the release. ShotSpotter is a technology that uses acoustic monitors to detect a sound like gunfire. The system sends the gunfire’s location to the Columbia Police Department within 45 seconds.
No other injuries were reported.
Police said Jowers and Sutton were acquaintances, and believe that the shooting stemmed from a previous disagreement or argument between the two young men.
Jowers was located at a Springtree Drive home Tuesday by CPD officers and members of the U.S. Marshals Service, according to the release. That’s about 7 miles from the scene of the shooting.
Information about how Jowers was connected to the shooting was not available, but police said crime scene experts collected DNA evidence, and ballistic evidence was also found with the assistance of the Columbia police K-9 team.
No bond has been set for Jowers, who is being held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, according to jail records. Jowers is scheduled to appear in court again on those charges on Nov. 18, judicial records show.
At the time of the deadly shooting, Jowers was out on bond from a July arrest, Richland County court records show. The Columbia resident is facing pending charges of poss., conceal, sell., or dispose of stolen vehicle (value $10,000 or more), unlawful carrying of pistol, sale or delivery of pistol to, and possession by, certain persons unlawful; stolen pistol, failure to stop for a blue light, and refusal to stop on police command, according to court records.
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This story was originally published October 26, 2022 at 12:12 PM.
