On the afternoon of Sunday, September 7, 2025, deputies with the Dillon County Sheriff’s Office responded to McLeod Medical Center in Dillon, South Carolina, following reports of a victim arriving with multiple gunshot wounds. The individual, identified as Darrick Lamont Jones, a 48-year-old Black male from Dillon, was pronounced deceased shortly after his arrival at the hospital.
Investigators determined that the fatal shooting had occurred earlier that day on Smutherman Drive within the Riverdale community.
Law enforcement officers, including agents from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division secured the scene on Smutherman Drive to collect forensic evidence and canvass the neighborhood for witnesses. Initial inquiries revealed that Jones had been transported to the medical facility in a private vehicle rather than by ambulance. The investigation indicated that several individuals were present at the time of the shooting.
On September 15, 2025, authorities arrested 38-year-old Marcus Demonshia Blakely of Florence in connection with the case. Blakely was not charged with the homicide itself but faced a charge of obstructing justice after investigators alleged he had removed items of evidence from the crime scene before law enforcement arrived. He was subsequently booked into the Dillon County Detention Center. As of late September 2025, the inquiry into the death remained active, with officials offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murder.
