SC bar where mass shooting took place had “history of violence,” authorities say
In the early morning hours on Oct. 12, shots rang out in front of a crowded bar and grill on St. Helena Island, a sea island just a few miles east of Beaufort. Three shooters exchanged gunfire that killed four people and injured another 15.
Now, local law enforcement and state agencies are looking to have a court suspend the alcohol licenses for Willie’s Bar and Grill, the site of the deadly shooting.
At a hearing before South Carolina’s Administrative Law Court in Columbia on Monday, lawyers for the state Department of Revenue argued that Willie’s was a “nuisance” bar with a pattern of dangerous and unmanageable crowds.
“There is a documented history of violence,” Patrick McCabe, counsel for litigation with the South Carolina Department of Revenue, said at Monday’s hearing. “It would have been an error on the department’s part not to step in.”
The mass shooting left the community north of the Broad River reeling with the death of A’shan’tek Milledge, a 22-year-old woman from Burton; Amos Gary, a 54-year-old man from St. Helena; Chiraad “Roddi” Smalls, a 33-year-old man from Beaufort; and Kashawn “KK” Smalls-Glaze, 22, of Beaufort.
The bar’s licenses to sell beer, wine and liquor were temporarily suspended on Nov. 12. With Monday’s hearing, the Department of Revenue was looking to have the suspensions extended until a later hearing where a judge would decide whether to strip the bar of its licenses.
The bar’s owner, Willie Turral, did not appear at Monday’s hearing. Administrative Court Judge Robert Reibold, who presided over the hearing, said that he reached Turral by phone and the business owner informed him that he had not been able to secure counsel but was prepared to accept whatever ruling the judge made.
While Turral does not own the building, he has operated the bar and grill under an LLC, Willie Turral Food Services, since 2023. The bar has not officially opened its doors for business since the shooting 36 days ago.
The shooting occurred in an area known locally as “Frogmore,” the commercial hub of St. Helena Island between Beaufort and Hunting Island State Park, which is known for shops, restaurants and the historic Penn Center. Many of the roughly 10,000 residents of the island are descended from Gullah-Geechee, or enslaved people from West Africa.
Willie’s Bar and Grill sits at the intersection of Martin Luther King Drive and Sea Island Parkway, the only road for east to west travel on the island. It’s a popular spot, serving beer, liquor and bar food with a Gullah-Geechee flavor. But the bar and grill has developed a reputation for large and rowdy crowds that spill from the bar and out into the street, shutting down access to parts of the island, testified Capt. Brian Chapman with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
Officers spend an “exorbitant” amount of time responding to calls at the bar, Chapman said. While the bar has hired security, Chapman said that many partygoers congregated in the parking lot and area around the bar, which he called “large and unmanaged.”
Turral took over the bar in 2023. The business was issued a temporary alcohol license in April 2024. Since then, there have been 53 documented calls for service to Willie’s, said SLED Special Agent John Nogiewich, who is on the vice team for the Lowcountry.
Approximately 15 of those calls were made by bar staff seeking assistance from law enforcement to deal with large crowds, Nogiewich said. The agent noted that other calls included reports of assault and battery, burglary, narcotics, fights, people brandishing weapons and reports of vandalism caused by vehicles being struck by bullets.
“We have a history of acts. We have a history of violence,” McCabe said in court. “The only way to stop this is to stop the sale of liquor.”
Reibold said he planned to issue an order on whether the bar’s license would remain suspended “in the near future.”
The fatal shooting and its aftermath
After more than five weeks without a suspect in custody and a laundry list of questions remaining unanswered by police, two of the shooters were identified Friday during a press conference with the sheriff.
One shooter, Anferny Devon Freeman, 27, of St. Helena, was charged with four counts of murder, aggravated breach of peace and a felony gun possession charge. The second shooter was one of the deceased, 22-year-old Smalls-Glaze. The third gunman has not yet been named by police.
From behind the lectern, Tanner fielded questions from reporters about the “ongoing and active” investigation. Among them stood Turral, who pressed Tanner about his department’s involvement in the emergency revocation of his business license. Tanner’s department has issued letters to the county and the state asking for Willie’s business and liquor licenses to be terminated.
The bar’s liquor license was suspended on Nov. 12, according to records with the state Department of Revenue. Willie’s still has an active business license with the county, but it is currently under review per request of the sheriff, according to a county spokesperson.
Turral’s questioning led to a heated exchange between the two, where Tanner said his department’s efforts were to shut down what he described as a “nuisance” business that has received more than 400 calls for service since 2014 for shots fired, drug-related activity and incidents of violence. At his own press conference after the sheriff’s, Turral questioned whether a non-Black business owner would receive the same treatment.
In court Monday, SLED agent Nogiewich noted that the majority of these calls long pre-dated Turral taking over the business at that location.
This story was originally published November 17, 2025 at 5:55 PM.
