In the quiet community of Conway, South Carolina, the life of 34-year-old Douglas L. Floyd was abruptly ended on June 19, 2012. On that Tuesday, police were called to his residence on the corner of 4th Avenue and Pine Street for a reported shooting. Inside, they discovered Floyd had sustained a fatal gunshot wound. The incident was quickly determined to be a homicide, shaking the neighborhood and prompting an intensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the violent intrusion into
Floyd's home.
Within days, the Conway Police Department, with assistance from the Horry County Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Task Force, identified and apprehended two suspects in connection with the killing. The first to be taken into custody was 20-year-old Laquintin Gause, who was found at a residence on 16th Avenue. Shortly thereafter, 22-year-old Santana Grant was arrested at a separate location on Highway 378. Both men were initially charged with murder and armed robbery, with authorities also leveling weapons possession charges against them.
The legal proceedings that followed revealed a harrowing account of a home invasion gone tragically wrong. Investigators pieced together that the suspects had forced their way into Floyd's home with the intent to rob him, and during the commission of this crime, Floyd was shot and killed. The community mourned the loss of a man remembered in his obituary, as preparations were made for his funeral at Mason Temple C.O.G.I.C. and his burial at Rosehill Cemetery.
In a significant development in the case, Santana Grant, one of the men accused of the murder, opted to accept a plea deal. Initially facing a murder charge, Grant pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. This plea resulted in a sentence of 25 years in prison. The resolution of Grant's case marked a pivotal moment in the pursuit of justice for Douglas Floyd, though details regarding the final disposition of the charges against Laquintin Gause remain less publicly documented.
