Aaron Bouknight was a man his mother remembers as someone everyone wanted to be around. Described as lovable and generous, his mother, Sandra Branch, said he was the kind of person who would give you the shirt off his back. At 23 years old, the young Male had his whole life ahead of him, a life that was tragically cut short in a senseless act of violence in downtown Columbia, South Carolina.
In the early morning hours of Sunday, March 28, 2010, Aaron was out with friends. They were at Club Dreams on Main Street, celebrating a family friend who was about to enlist in the military. When the club closed, the group walked across the street to the parking lot of the Richland County Judicial Center at 1701 Main Street. There, an argument broke out between Aaron's group and three men in a burgundy or dark-colored four-door SUV, possibly a Ford Explorer.
The men in the SUV claimed to be from "The Rock."
Investigators with the Columbia Police Department reported that the confrontation seemed to have de-escalated. Aaron and a friend were sitting in their vehicle when the suspects began to drive away. As they did, someone from inside the SUV fired a single shot from an assault rifle. The bullet struck the car Aaron was in, hitting and killing him at approximately 3:12 a.m. His death was one of four homicides in Columbia in a short period where the victims were found in cars, though police stated the cases were not connected.
The investigation, led by the Columbia Police Department, faced immediate challenges. Witnesses provided conflicting stories about the argument and the shooting. Police learned that just before the incident, the occupants of the suspect SUV had been seen speaking with someone in a large white Cadillac. That Cadillac was then seen following the SUV as it fled the parking lot, heading north on Assembly Street. Despite these details, the trail quickly went cold.
Years passed, but for Aaron's family, the pain remained fresh. His mother, Sandra Branch, along with his stepfather and two sisters, continued to hope for answers and closure. In 2016, six years after the murder, Branch made a public plea for anyone with information to come forward. She also had a message for her son's killer. "I forgive you," she said in a television interview. "I forgive you for taking the life of my son. I hold no animosity. I hold no grudge. Please just come forward and say, I made a mistake, I'm sorry, now can we please move forward in this."
As of a May 2016 report, the Columbia Police Department had no new leads in the case. An investigator, Mark Vinson, expressed the department's frustration and hope. "This is a kid that did not deserve this to be shot and killed at such a young age," Vinson said. "We hope that people would consider if this were your friend or family member, how would you feel about it." Investigators remain certain that someone who was at the club that night has the information needed to solve this crime.
The murder of Aaron Bouknight remains unsolved. His family continues to wait for the day when justice will be served. Police are still asking for help from the public to identify the men in the dark-colored SUV and the occupants of the white Cadillac that followed them. Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-888-CRIME-SC.
