On the night of July 22, 2021, officers from the North Augusta Department of Public Safety responded to a chaotic scene at the North Augusta Gardens apartment complex on West Hugh Street. Upon arrival, they encountered a large crowd of people screaming and directing law enforcement toward a wounded individual on the ground. The victim was identified as Stashaun Judge, a 25-year-old Black male who went by the nickname "Tank."
He was discovered suffering from a single gunshot wound to his upper torso.
Emergency medical services arrived to treat the injured man and hurriedly transported him to Augusta University Medical Center for trauma care. Despite the efforts of medical personnel, Judge succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead by a doctor shortly after his arrival. The coroner confirmed the cause of death as a shooting, marking a violent end to the young man's life just one day after his family had already been struck by tragedy.
Investigators immediately noted the disturbing timing of the incident, as Stashaun's older brother, Stacey Judge, had been shot and killed inside his own home in nearby Aiken, South Carolina, only the day before. The consecutive murders of the two brothers sparked intense speculation within the local community, with rumors circulating that the killings might be retribution related to a dispute over stolen dogs. However, law enforcement officials did not publicly validate these theories and stated that the motive for the shooting was under investigation.
Despite the high-profile nature of the double tragedy and the community's vocal concerns, detectives faced challenges in identifying the perpetrator responsible for Stashaun's death. While police in the region made arrests in other unrelated homicide cases around the same time, reports indicated that no suspects were immediately taken into custody for the murder of Stashaun Judge. The case remained open as authorities continued to seek leads, leaving the slaying unsolved in the immediate aftermath of the violence.
