Victim in 2nd Beaufort County shooting ID'd; was involved in domestic dispute

A day after a 21-year-old Hilton Head Island man was shot to death in what law enforcement is calling a road-rage incident, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a second shooting death.

The latest happened on Polite Drive in Burton around 10 p.m. Wednesday following what the Sheriff’s Office is calling a domestic dispute.

According to a Sheriff’s Office news release, a woman involved in an argument with a man who also lived there telephoned family members to intervene. Three males and a female arrived shortly afterward to confront the male.

The three males, including 23-year-old Jovan Donaldson of Burton, left the vehicle and argued with the male resident.

During that confrontation, one of the three males fired a handgun at least once, the release said, striking both Donaldson and the male resident. The three males, including Donaldson, and the female who drove to the residence with them, sped away before driving Donaldson to Burton Hill Road to the Burton Fire Department, where he was pronounced dead. His body was transported to Beaufort Memorial Hospital, the release said. The male resident involved in the domestic dispute is being treated for a gunshot wound at the hospital.

The Sheriff’s Office has identified other parties involved but has declined to release their identifies. The investigation is ongoing. The Sheriff’s Office said no charges have been filed, but an update is expected later today.

The Wednesday night shooting brings to 10 the number of people who have died violently in the county in 2015.

Meanwhile, the Sheriff’s Office is continuing its investigation into the death of county animal shelter employee Rhashard Spikes.

Spikes was pronounced dead just after midnight Wednesday after he was flown to Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah.

He was shot around 9 p.m. Tuesday in the U.S. 278 and Southwood Park Drive area near the Oaks Apartments, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.

Before his death, Spikes told investigators he was driving east on U.S. 278 when a small silver-colored vehicle with tinted windows traveling in the opposite direction veered into his lane. Bromage said Wednesday the vehicle was possible a Toyota.

Spikes was able to avoid a collision with the other vehicle, the release said, and yelled out the window at the other driver.

As Spikes continued driving, he and his passengers noticed the same vehicle behind them in the left lane, speeding up to catch them.

At least two shots were fired from the silver vehicle, according to the release, before it sped away.

Spikes was struck at least once, according to the Sheriff’s Office, but an autopsy scheduled for today at the Medical University of South Carolina could reveal another injury.

A wounded Spikes pulled over into a Speedway gas station parking lot, where deputies and emergency personnel found him.

The two deaths come just over two weeks after Dominique Williams, 17, was shot to death near the Coligny Beach Park water fountain July 19, alleged by a 15-year-old suspect with whom he had fought the day before.

That suspect is being held at a SC department juvenile justice facility in Columbia. He could be tried as an adult, Solicitor Duffie Stone said in late July.

This story will be updated.

Follow Caitlin Turner on Twitter at twitter.com/Cait_E_Turner.