In the early hours of a Monday morning, on July 13, 2015, the life of 24-year-old Dominique Ray’Von Cooper was tragically cut short in a burst of gunfire. The male victim, a former standout running back for Darlington High School, was fatally shot in Darlington County, South Carolina, near the I-95 bridge and East McIver Road. The incident, which occurred around 1:30 a.m., left the local community in shock and mourning for a young man who had once shown great promise on the football field.
The investigation into Cooper's death moved swiftly, and within days, law enforcement officials began to close in on those they believed to be responsible. The first to be taken into custody was 22-year-old Laquawn Tiyon Hicks of the Florence area, who turned himself in to the Darlington County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday, July 15. He was promptly charged with murder. The following day, two more suspects were apprehended: 20-year-old Tony Dequan Manago of Florence and 21-year-old Marquis Zandui Hawkins of Darlington. Both were also charged with murder.
The string of arrests continued as the investigation pressed on. Brothers Halique Davenport, 22, and Kahseem Saybon Davenport, 31, both from Darlington, were the next to be implicated in Cooper's death. They faced charges of murder, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, and criminal conspiracy. All five suspects were denied bond during their initial court appearances and were held at the Darlington County Detention Center as they awaited further legal proceedings. While the arrests brought a sense of progress in the case, the motive behind the fatal shooting was not publicly disclosed by authorities. The subsequent legal outcomes for the five men charged in connection with the death of Dominique Ray’Von Cooper remain unclear.
