Jaquavious Neely, a 19-year-old Black male from Rock Hill, South Carolina, was fatally shot on the afternoon of September 15, 2019. The incident occurred while Neely was on the porch of a residence on Carmel Road in Lancaster. He was transported to the Medical University of South Carolina-Lancaster, where he was pronounced dead. The shooting was not a random act of violence, but rather the tragic culmination of a planned robbery.
Investigators quickly identified two suspects in the
killing: 17-year-old Jarod Keshun McNeil and 19-year-old Jonovan Hensley, both also from Rock Hill. The investigation revealed that Hensley drove Neely to the Carmel Road house in a black Nissan Altima, with McNeil and another juvenile as passengers. It was upon Neely's arrival, as he was ascending the porch steps, that McNeil, armed with a long gun, shot him. The motive for the shooting was determined to be robbery. Neither Neely nor the suspects resided at the home where the shooting took place. The residence was the home of Neely's child and the child's mother.
Following the shooting, McNeil and Hensley fled the scene in the Nissan Altima. McNeil was apprehended in Alabama a few days later and extradited back to South Carolina. Hensley, who drove the getaway car, was also taken into custody. Both individuals were charged with murder. In May 2021, just as his trial was set to begin, Jarod McNeil pleaded guilty to the murder of Jaquavious Neely. He was subsequently sentenced to 35 years in prison for his role in the fatal shooting.
