Daqwuantavest Taqwuan Barber, a 30-year-old man from Greenville, South Carolina, was fatally shot on the night of September 8, 2026, outside the Boulder Creek Apartments at 300 Furman Hall Road. Greenville County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the complex at about 9:50 p.m. after receiving a report of gunfire. When deputies arrived, they found two people suffering from gunshot wounds. Both were taken from the scene for emergency medical treatment.
Investigators later determined that Barber had been standing outside the apartment complex when 41-year-old Jared Matthew Wakefield approached him. Authorities said Wakefield opened fire on Barber for reasons that remained under investigation, striking him at least once. During the confrontation, investigators said Barber and at least one other person also fired at Wakefield. Wakefield was struck at least once during the exchange and was transported to a hospital for treatment. Investigators have not publicly disclosed a motive for what led to the confrontation.
Barber was taken to Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital, but his injuries proved fatal. He died at approximately 10:40 p.m. The Greenville County Coroner’s Office later determined that he had suffered multiple gunshot wounds and officially classified his death as a homicide. His obituary identified him by the nickname “Chilly” and stated that he was the son of Walter Barber and the late Kimberly Denise McMahan. He also left behind a daughter, a companion, and several sisters.
The investigation quickly focused on Wakefield. By September 10, the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office announced that investigators had obtained warrants charging him in connection with Barber’s death. Wakefield was taken into custody and held at the Greenville County Detention Center. At a bond hearing, he was denied bond and remained jailed. Local reports describing the arrest did not specify the exact individual criminal counts contained in the warrants, so no additional charges can be reliably stated from the publicly available reporting.
Authorities described the shooting as an isolated incident and treated Barber’s death as a homicide investigation. The sheriff’s office said his killing was the 14th murder investigated by the agency during 2026 and reported that an arrest had been made in each of those cases. As of September 24, 2026, available local reporting had not documented a trial, plea, or conviction involving Wakefield in Barber’s death. The case therefore remained at the criminal-charging stage, with Wakefield jailed without bond while the prosecution moved forward.
