In the quiet town of Ridgeland, South Carolina, the life of 15-year-old Tavarus Rhashad Pinckney was tragically cut short on a Sunday evening in the fall. On October 16, 2022, the young man, a student who had recently moved to Aiken and attended Ridge Spring Monetta High School, was fatally wounded by a single gunshot. The incident unfolded off Lady's Bank Drive in his hometown of Ridgeland. Tavarus was with his older brother, Kylen Pinckney, when the shooting occurred.
They were examining a firearm belonging to a family member, which had been used earlier for a hunting trip, when the weapon discharged.
Emergency services were called to the home on Lady Banks Drive around 6:45 p.m. Tavarus was rushed to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, Georgia, for medical attention, but he succumbed to his injuries later that night. The Jasper County Coroner pronounced him dead at 8:45 p.m. While the initial assessment of the situation pointed towards an accidental shooting, further investigation by the Jasper County Sheriff's Office revealed a more complex series of events leading to the fatal moment.
The investigation led to the arrest of Tavarus's 28-year-old brother, Kylen Pinckney. He was taken into custody in Bamburg County at his grandmother's home the following Saturday. Authorities charged him with involuntary manslaughter, breaking into a motor vehicle, and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. According to the sheriff's office, Kylen had allegedly stolen the firearm from a car down the street from the family's residence. Reports indicated that before the fatal shot was fired, Kylen had been pointing the gun at people and was told to put it down. It was as he was lowering the weapon that it discharged, striking his younger brother.
