On a summer afternoon in Greenville, South Carolina, a dispute between two men who knew each other ended in tragedy. Michael Jason Deck, a 45-year-old man, was shot and killed inside a Walmart on White Horse Road on July 5, 2019. The incident, which unfolded in the busy retail store, sent shoppers scrambling for safety and left Deck with fatal gunshot wounds to his head and torso.
Within a short time, law enforcement located and arrested a suspect not far from the scene of the crime.
The man taken into custody was identified as 33-year-old Braylon Lamar Morris. He was subsequently charged with the murder of Michael Jason Deck and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. The investigation quickly revealed that the shooting was not a random act of violence, but rather the culmination of an ongoing personal conflict between the two men.
During a bond hearing following his arrest, Braylon Morris was denied bond. In a tense courtroom exchange with the victim's father, Morris admitted to the killing and offered his reasons. He claimed that Deck had introduced him to an individual who had caused him significant trouble and had threatened his life. Morris stated that he had warned Deck that he would retaliate on sight.
The case against Braylon Lamar Morris was scheduled to proceed to trial in Greenville County in October 2022. However, publicly available information does not detail the outcome of this trial, including any verdict or subsequent sentencing for the murder charge. It is known that in June of 2022, Morris was convicted on multiple drug and weapons charges in Pickens County and sentenced to 28 years in prison for those offenses.
