David Conner, a 59-year-old man, was killed on July 13, 2021, at the Bolton’s Landing apartment complex on Bluewater Way in West Ashley, Charleston. That evening, police were called to the property after a report that someone was lying on the ground and not breathing. Fire crews tried to help when they arrived, but Conner died from a gunshot wound, leaving investigators to piece together what had happened outside the apartments and why he had been targeted there.
As the case came into focus, prosecutors later described a conflict that began in a small, everyday way and then turned lethal. According to the Ninth Circuit Solicitor’s Office, Conner and Karseem Hardaway had a brief verbal confrontation the night before the killing over Hardaway talking too loudly on his phone near Conner’s apartment door. The dispute rattled Conner enough that he left a voicemail for the apartment complex’s front office asking for help dealing with the situation, a quiet attempt to resolve a problem that would not stay contained.
Investigators leaned heavily on digital and video evidence to reconstruct the hours around the shooting. In the solicitor’s account, Hardaway told police he had left the complex earlier that day, but surveillance evidence suggested he waited near Conner’s apartment and did not leave the area until just after the killing, around the time investigators tied to the gunfire. The case also included details from digital forensics: authorities said Hardaway conducted numerous online searches related to Conner’s work location and vehicle details, starting after the confrontation and continuing up to moments before the murder. At the scene, a single shell casing of a distinctive 10mm caliber was recovered, and investigators said further digital and web-based data indicated Hardaway had possessed a handgun of that unusual caliber before the shooting and moved quickly to sell it afterward.
In early September 2021, Charleston police arrested Hardaway on a warrant connected to Conner’s killing. Reports at the time described the arrest as tied to a murder charge along with gun-related charges, as the investigation that began at the apartment complex moved into the courts.
The criminal case culminated in a jury conviction announced by the Ninth Circuit Solicitor’s Office in April 2024. Hardaway was found guilty of murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, and the sentencing judge, Deadra L. Jefferson, imposed a 40-year prison term. Prosecutors said the outcome underscored how the timeline formed by surveillance, digital forensics, and circumstantial proof could speak as loudly as an eyewitness, turning a trail of movements, searches, and transactions into a narrative of intent and guilt.
