In the early hours of a Tuesday morning in Columbia, South Carolina, the lives of two young men were tragically cut short. On September 26, 2023, 25-year-old Daeonte Kut Lang and 21-year-old Christopher Haynes were found shot to death outside a third-floor apartment at the Greenbrier Apartments on Willow Oak Drive. Richland County Sheriff's Department deputies responded to reports of gunfire around 1:00 a.m. and discovered the bodies of the two Columbia residents.
Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.
The initial investigation into the double homicide left authorities searching for answers, with no immediate information on a suspect or a motive for the shooting. The community was left in shock and mourning as authorities appealed to the public for any information that could lead to an arrest. For weeks, the case remained a priority for the Richland County Sheriff's Department as they worked to piece together the events that led to the violent deaths of Lang and Haynes.
A significant breakthrough in the case came on November 8, 2023, when authorities located and arrested a suspect. Christian Joquan Irick, 21, was taken into custody on the campus of South Carolina State University in Orangeburg. His arrest was a collaborative effort involving the Richland County Sheriff's Department, the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and the South Carolina State University Campus Police. Irick, who was not a student at the university but was visiting a friend, was charged with two counts of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. He was subsequently booked into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. At the time of the shooting, Irick was reportedly out on bond for previous unrelated charges.
