In the summer of 2014, a dispute over drugs in Columbia, South Carolina, tragically cut short the life of 22-year-old Joshua Samuel Cullifer. The fatal encounter unfolded in the Olympia neighborhood, a community largely populated by single-family homes and college students, where such violence was a rare occurrence.
On the morning of Friday, July 25, 2014, officers from the Richland County Sheriff's Department responded to a home on Kentucky Street.
Inside the lower level of the house, they discovered the bodies of Joshua Cullifer and 27-year-old William Todd Watlington Jr. Both men had sustained fatal gunshot wounds to their upper bodies. The investigation revealed that the shooting had occurred early the previous morning, Thursday, July 24, following a verbal altercation with an acquaintance.
The investigation quickly led to the identification and arrest of two suspects. Carlos Flores, who was 17 years old at the time, was taken into custody and charged with two counts of murder. A 15-year-old female was also arrested and charged with accessory after the fact. The suspects were apprehended in Aiken County after their vehicle was spotted being driven erratically on Interstate 20.
According to authorities, the deadly confrontation erupted from a disagreement over drugs. Flores and the two victims were known to each other. Following the incident, Flores was to be transported to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County, while the case against the 15-year-old girl was slated for Family Court. The tragic deaths of Joshua Cullifer and William Watlington Jr. left family members grieving and a community in shock over the sudden and senseless violence that had taken place in their neighborhood.
