Zatae Paulette Wilson, a 35-year-old woman from Georgetown, South Carolina, had built a life centered around family, hard work, and quiet determination long before her name appeared in news headlines. Born on December 3, 1987, in Omaha, Nebraska, she eventually made Georgetown her home, where relatives and friends knew her simply as “Tae.” Those closest to her remember a devoted mother of three children, then ages 5, 10, and 21, who balanced the demands of parenthood with a professional
career and an extended network of loved ones. Family described her as caring, compassionate, strong-willed, independent, and intelligent, the second daughter of a retired U.S. Marine, a sister, aunt, cousin, and trusted friend. She had earned an associate degree from Horry-Georgetown Technical College and worked as a compensation analyst with MIL Corporation, carving out a stable path for herself and her children. Outside of work, she loved traveling, reading, dancing, laughing, and spending time with relatives, the sort of person whose presence turned ordinary family gatherings into warm, memorable occasions.
On the night of September 4, 2023, that carefully constructed life was abruptly and violently cut short. Around 10:30 p.m., inside a home on Woodduck Drive in the Gadsden Acres neighborhood of Summerville, a shooting occurred that would prompt an emergency call to authorities and leave a family shattered. According to police reports, Summerville dispatchers received a 911 call from a man stating that his girlfriend had been shot; the caller then became uncooperative and hung up, leaving responders with only fragments of information as they rushed to the scene. Officers arrived in the neighborhood at approximately 1:40 a.m. on September 5 and almost immediately noticed a Ford pickup truck speeding away and running a stop sign. When they attempted a traffic stop, the driver refused to pull over, triggering a brief pursuit through the area.
The chase ended at an apartment complex on Central Avenue, where officers took the driver into custody. He was identified as 37-year-old Michael Todd Chinnis Jr. During the arrest, investigators reported finding a Glock. 40-caliber handgun in his possession, with a single long strand of black hair clinging to the end of the barrel, a chilling detail that would later be highlighted in news coverage of the case. Back at the Woodduck Drive residence in Gadsden Acres, authorities discovered Zatae suffering from a gunshot wound; despite efforts at the scene, the Dorchester County Coroner later confirmed she had been pronounced dead in the early hours of the following morning. The coroner’s office publicly identified her as being from Georgetown, underscoring how far news of the killing would ripple beyond Summerville and back to the community where she had grown up and raised her children.
As details emerged, the shooting was widely framed as a domestic violence homicide, with advocates and family members placing it in the broader context of intimate partner violence. Police described the victim and the suspect as being in a romantic relationship, and relatives spoke publicly about the “senseless act” that took her life, vowing to remain relentless in their pursuit of justice on her behalf. Her children and siblings suddenly found themselves at the center of an unwanted spotlight—remembering her as a mother who loved to laugh and travel, while at the same time grappling with the reality that the person accused of killing her was someone she had trusted.
In the immediate aftermath, the legal focus turned to Chinnis. The Summerville Police Department announced that he had been arrested on multiple charges: murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, unlawful carry of a pistol, possession of a handgun by a person convicted of a violent felony, and failure to stop for blue lights. Local reporting, bolstered by jail records and crime-watch postings, reiterated that he was being held at the Dorchester County Detention Center, with bond denied on the murder charge. The list of offenses suggested that investigators viewed the shooting not as an accident but as a deliberate and serious violent crime, particularly in light of allegations that he was already a convicted violent felon barred from possessing a firearm. At the same time, public records and news accounts emphasized that these were charges, not a final determination of guilt, and that the case would ultimately be decided through the courts.
While the criminal process moved slowly, Zatae’s loved ones channeled their grief into action. Within days, her sister organized an online fundraiser to help support the three children left behind, writing about a “tragic and senseless act” that had “forever changed” their lives. The fundraiser described a woman who had worked hard to provide stability for her family, underscoring both her professional accomplishments and the intangible qualities that made her irreplaceable: supportive, funny, protective, and kind. On memorial pages dedicated to victims of gun violence, friends and relatives left messages about her generosity and warmth, calling her a beautiful friend and beloved sister, and lighting virtual candles in her honor.
In the months and years since the shooting, public records and news coverage have continued to note the charges against her accused killer and the fact that he remained in custody, but there has been little widely reported information about any completed trial or final verdict. Against that uncertain legal backdrop, the most vivid portrait that remains is the one painted by her family and community: a mother who strove to build a better life through education and hard work, whose death became part of a broader story about domestic violence and gun violence in South Carolina, and whose absence continues to be felt in the everyday moments her children and loved ones now face without her.
