In the St. Andrews area of Columbia, South Carolina, on a Sunday afternoon in September 2018, the lives of a young father and his infant son were tragically cut short in a violent encounter. Twenty-three-year-old James Antheny McDowell and his one-year-old son, Tyreen McDowell, were fatally shot inside their apartment on Beatty Downs Road. The incident unfolded around 1 p.m. when deputies responded to a call for assistance.
Upon their arrival, they discovered James McDowell outside the residence with gunshot wounds. He was rushed to a local hospital but succumbed to his injuries. Inside the apartment, a more heartbreaking discovery was made: the body of young Tyreen, who had also been shot and died at the scene. The toddler was just a few days shy of his second birthday.
Investigators believe the shooting was not a random act of violence, suggesting that McDowell likely knew his assailants as there were no signs of forced entry into the apartment. A neighbor reported hearing gunshots and McDowell's cries for help before calling 911. The Richland County Sheriff's Department launched an intensive investigation into the double homicide that had shaken the community. Sheriff Leon Lott spoke of the senselessness of the crime, particularly the death of such a young child, and pledged to bring those responsible to justice. The motive, according to the sheriff, was a drug-related robbery that escalated into a deadly confrontation.
Within a couple of months, the investigation led to the arrests of three individuals in connection with the murders of James and Tyreen McDowell. Traevon Ray, Markelyis Gibson, and DyQuan King were taken into custody and charged with two counts of murder. King and Gibson also faced charges for weapons possession. In a subsequent press conference, Sheriff Lott revealed that these arrests were part of a larger crackdown on violent crime in the area, which was often linked to young people, drugs, and gang activity. It was also disclosed that DyQuan King was implicated in another fatal shooting that had occurred just days before the McDowell murders, where an innocent bystander was caught in the crossfire of a gang-related shootout.
