On the evening of October 21, 2022, Sidney Williams, a 27-year-old female, was fatally shot in an apartment in Columbia, South Carolina. The incident occurred at approximately 9 p.m. in the 3400 block of Kay Street. When Richland County sheriff's deputies arrived at the scene, they discovered Williams inside the apartment with a gunshot wound to her upper body.
Emergency medical services pronounced her dead at the scene.
Investigators determined that multiple shots had been fired into the apartment from the outside, damaging the walls. Two other men were present in the apartment with Williams at the time of the shooting, but they were not injured. Authorities believed the shooting was not random, but stemmed from an earlier argument between the suspect and one of the men inside the apartment.
In April 2023, nearly six months after the shooting, Richland County deputies arrested 34-year-old Carlos Renard Dates in connection with the murder. He was apprehended at his home in Lexington County and charged with murder, two counts of attempted murder, and weapons violations. The investigation revealed that Dates had fired the shots through the apartment window. In April 2025, Carlos Renard Dates, then 36, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and attempted murder. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the death of Sidney Williams. A witness who was in the apartment during the shooting later came forward and confirmed he was the intended target, stating the shooting stemmed from an ongoing dispute with Dates. Ballistic evidence from a gun found in Dates' possession during a traffic stop matched the evidence from the crime scene.
