Tidrekis Daquan Gary, a 15-year-old boy from Greenwood, South Carolina, spent April 4, 2018 in the familiar orbit of his neighborhood, where teens drifted in and out of the Fairfield and Winns apartment complex as the evening settled in. Not long after dusk, the calm broke—reports of shots fired drew officers toward the area of Tennessee Court and Ohio Court. When they arrived, they found people scattering and a juvenile wounded by gunfire.
Gary had been shot and was rushed to Self Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
In the first days after the killing, details came in fragments: the rush of footsteps, the sudden flight from the scene, the uncertainty of who had seen what and who was willing to say it out loud. Police leaned on witnesses to help stitch together what happened and, in a public message shared afterward, urged families to talk to their children about how quickly an argument can turn into a life-ending decision—one mother left grieving, and other young lives potentially headed toward prison.
As investigators worked the case, authorities said an officer even chased a potential suspect shortly after the shooting but couldn’t catch him in the moment. Nearly two weeks later, police announced they had made an arrest: a teenage suspect was taken into custody and charged in connection with Gary’s death. Because the suspect was a juvenile, early reports said the name could not be released, and officials did not announce a motive.
Soon after, Greenwood police publicly identified the suspect as De’andrevious Williams of Abbeville. He was charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, and police said he had already been arraigned under state law, with bond to be set by a circuit court judge. Reports also described him being taken to the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice in Columbia.
In the wake of the shooting, Gary’s death rippled outward—through his school and through the crowded ties of family and friends who had known him as more than the headlines that followed. His obituary remembered him as a ninth grader at Emerald High School, surrounded by a large family, with funeral services held days later in Greenwood.
