In the early morning hours of August 18, 2024, the quiet of a Sumter, South Carolina hotel was shattered by the sound of gunfire. When police responded to the Sleep Inn on Broad Street at approximately 4:30 a.m., they discovered the bodies of two young men outside the building. One of the victims was identified as 20-year-old Saquan Logan of Sumter. The other victim was 19-year-old Tyriq Demari Spann of Dalzell. Both men had sustained fatal gunshot wounds.
The Sumter County Coroner's Office confirmed their identities, and autopsies were scheduled to be performed at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.
The investigation into the double homicide led Sumter police to identify two suspects from Wedgefield. Nineteen-year-old Tavion Melki Mickens was charged with two counts of murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. Authorities located Mickens in a Georgia jail, where he was being held on unrelated charges of speeding and weapon possession. He was extradited back to Sumter on September 7, 2024, to face the murder charges. A second suspect, 23-year-old Toney Williams Jr., was arrested on August 27, 2024. Williams was charged with accessory after the fact of murder, accused of helping Mickens to hide evidence and evade law enforcement.
Family members of Saquan Logan described him as someone who was not a troublemaker and spent his time working and playing video games. His death was a second devastating loss for his mother, whose other son had also been a victim of gun violence less than a year prior. Witnesses at the hotel described a chaotic scene, hearing gunshots and seeing people fleeing the area. The Sumter Police Department has offered a reward for any information that leads to additional arrests in the ongoing investigation.
