In a tragic turn of events on September 30, 2018, a young male child, 2-year-old Tyren Williams, and his 23-year-old father, James Antheny McDowell, lost their lives in a double homicide in Columbia, South Carolina. The incident unfolded at their home on Beatty Downs Road, where both victims were found with fatal gunshot wounds.
The initial discovery was made when McDowell was found shot outside the residence.
Responding to the scene, law enforcement officials then located young Tyren inside the home, also a victim of the gunfire that had erupted. The motive for this violent act was later attributed by the Richland County Sheriff's Department to a drug-related robbery. Investigators believed the home was specifically targeted by the assailants.
Following an investigation into the brutal slayings, authorities announced the arrests of three suspects. Traevon Ray, Markelyis Gibson, and DyQuan King were taken into custody and subsequently charged with two counts of murder each. At the time of the arrests, the sheriff’s department noted the senseless nature of the crime, highlighting the tragedy of a young child losing his life.
One of the suspects, DyQuan King, was also implicated in another fatal shooting that occurred just days prior to the murders of Williams and McDowell. In that incident, an innocent bystander was killed after being caught in the crossfire of what was described as a gang-related shootout. While information regarding the convictions and sentences for the murders of Tyren Williams and James McDowell is not readily available in public reports, King was later convicted and sentenced for a separate attempted murder that took place in 2021. The specific legal outcomes for Ray, Gibson, and King in connection to the double homicide on Beatty Downs Road remain undisclosed in the available information.
