In the early evening of January 23, 2021, in a yard on Byars Street in Rock Hill, South Carolina, the life of 17-year-old Zyon KyReece Lamont Minton was tragically cut short. He, along with his 18-year-old friend, Digarian Foster, was shot multiple times in what police would later describe as an ambush. Both teenagers were rushed to Piedmont Medical Center, but their injuries proved to be fatal.
Zyon, a student at Northwestern High School, was remembered by his aunt as someone who was always laughing and smiling, and by a teacher as a young man with a promising future who had been working on his schoolwork just hours before he was killed, with aspirations of graduating.
The investigation into the double homicide revealed a motive chillingly rooted in street justice. Authorities alleged that Foster had cooperated with police in a previous investigation, breaking an unwritten code of silence. This act of 'snitching' apparently sealed his fate, and Zyon's friendship and loyalty to Foster cost him his life as well. The two were ambushed by individuals they had known for years, people who had even been to Foster's family home. The killings sent shockwaves through the Rock Hill community, leading to a vigil where dozens gathered with candles and balloons to mourn the loss of the three teenagers killed in the city that weekend.
Within a month of the fatal shooting, Rock Hill police made arrests in the case, taking three teenagers into custody. Jon'Tarius Delmone Reid and Kelvin Barnette Jr., both 18 at the time, were charged with two counts of murder. The third suspect, John'Quavius L. Kelly, who was also a teenager, was later identified as the alleged shooter. Prosecutors claimed that Kelly was attempting to become a member of the Bloods gang and that the killings were related to this initiation.
In February 2023, John'Quavius L. Kelly, then 19, accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to two counts of voluntary manslaughter under an Alford plea, which allowed him to maintain his innocence while acknowledging the significant risk of a guilty verdict at trial. Despite the pleas of Zyon Minton's mother and grandmother for the judge to reject the deal, arguing that the 15-year sentence was too lenient for the loss of two lives, the plea was ultimately accepted. Zyon’s mother, Laquaja Gordon, expressed in court that her son was a victim with a promising future and that 15 years was not enough time for the crime committed. Kelly was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with credit for time served since his arrest in February 2021. The murder charges against Jon'Tarius Delmone Reid and Kelvin Barnette Jr. remained pending.
