In the quiet community of Woodside Manor in Ladson, South Carolina, the evening of November 23, 2022, was shattered by the sound of gunfire. When Charleston County Sheriff's deputies arrived at a home on Garwood Drive after 6 p.m., they discovered a man inside who had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. He was later identified as 27-year-old Jermaine L. Bunch, Jr.
The investigation into the shooting death of the male victim unfolded quickly.
Detectives from the Charleston County Sheriff's Office began to piece together the events that led to the fatal encounter. Their work led them to a suspect, and on Thursday, December 1, 2022, an arrest was made in connection with the killing.
Mario Lavell Burgess, 18, was taken into custody by detectives. Following an interview, he was charged with murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. The investigation suggested a possible connection to an earlier incident that same day, where multiple gunshots were fired into another occupied residence on Garwood Drive just after 1 a.m. While no one was injured in that earlier shooting, it formed part of the ongoing investigation to determine a motive and whether the two events were linked.
