In the early morning hours of August 7, 2020, the quiet of a small residential community in Manning, South Carolina, was shattered by an act of violence that claimed the life of 22-year-old Javon L. Smith. Officers from the Clarendon County Sheriff's Office and the Manning Police Department responded to a call on High Hills Lane, where they discovered Smith with a gunshot wound to his chest. He was pronounced deceased at the scene by the Clarendon County Coroner.
The coroner later confirmed that Javon Smith died between 3:30 a.m. and 4 a.m.
The investigation into the shooting moved swiftly, and later that same morning, authorities made an arrest in connection with Smith's death. Jeffery Weeks, a 36-year-old man also from Manning, was taken into custody and charged with murder. The shooting occurred in a neighborhood located about one mile east of Manning.
Following the incident, an autopsy was scheduled to be performed at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston to officially determine the cause of death. While an arrest was made promptly, the Clarendon County Sheriff's Office continued its investigation and encouraged anyone with additional information about the shooting to come forward.
