In the quiet town of Saint-Matthews, South Carolina, a domestic dispute escalated into a horrific tragedy on the evening of May 17, 2020, claiming the life of 37-year-old Shanta Singleton, a Black/African American female, and two of her beloved daughters. The devastating events unfolded at their residence on Bugle Flowers Road, forever shattering a family and shocking the close-knit community.
The architect of this senseless violence was Gabriel Jordan, 37, who was romantically involved
with Shanta. The relationship was reportedly fraught with turmoil, and on that fateful Sunday, tensions reached a deadly climax. An argument, believed to have been ignited by jealousy, turned violent when Jordan produced a firearm. He first shot Shanta, and when her daughters, 15-year-old Essence Stroman and 12-year-old Trevay Stroman, bravely intervened to protect their mother, he turned the gun on them as well. Both girls were fatally wounded.
In the midst of the chaos, two other children who were present in the home managed to escape the carnage. One of the surviving children sustained a non-fatal gunshot wound to the arm. After extinguishing the lives of Shanta and her two daughters, Gabriel Jordan then took his own life with the same weapon, bringing a grim end to the rampage.
The Calhoun County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene to find a nightmarish tableau. The investigation that followed confirmed the incident was a murder-suicide, stemming from the volatile domestic situation between Singleton and Jordan. With the perpetrator deceased, the case was closed, leaving a community to mourn the profound loss of a mother and her young daughters, their lives tragically cut short by an act of unimaginable violence.
