In the autumn of 2020, the life of Franklin John Lockett, a 41-year-old Black male, was abruptly and violently cut short in Greenville, South Carolina. On the afternoon of Friday, October 16, events unfolded at the Berkley Pointe Apartments on Wenwood Road that would leave a family grieving and a community seeking answers.
Around 5:00 PM that day, gunshots shattered the evening calm. Franklin Lockett was standing in the breezeway of an apartment building when he was struck by gunfire.
Wounded, he managed to make his way into his own apartment, but his injuries were too severe. He succumbed to a gunshot wound to his torso and was found deceased inside his residence.
The Greenville Police Department quickly launched a homicide investigation. Their attention soon turned to a person of interest, 18-year-old Yorell Aaron Byrd of Anderson, South Carolina. Ten days after the fatal shooting, on October 26, Byrd voluntarily met with detectives and confessed to the crime. According to police, Byrd admitted to shooting Lockett in the breezeway. The investigation further revealed that after initially shooting Lockett, Byrd allegedly ran to the back of the building and fired more shots into Lockett's apartment.
Following his confession, Yorell Aaron Byrd was arrested and charged with murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. He was subsequently booked into the Greenville County Detention Center. The motive for the shooting was not immediately made public, leaving friends, family, and the wider community to grapple with the senseless loss of a man described as a loving son, brother, father, and friend. Franklin Lockett was survived by his mother, his wife, Deidra Galindo, and his six children. A funeral service to honor his memory was held on November 7, 2020, as his loved ones began the long and difficult process of seeking justice.
