On a summer evening in Allendale, South Carolina, the life of 34-year-old Herrinda D. Murdaugh was tragically cut short. The incident unfolded on Saturday, July 22, 2023, at an Exxon gas station on the Allendale-Fairfax Highway, a place that would become the scene of a fatal shooting. Another woman, 25-year-old Parris Lee, also lost her life in the violent encounter.
Responding to the incident, law enforcement found Lee partially inside a vehicle, having died at the scene.
Murdaugh was discovered nearby, critically wounded, and was rushed to the Allendale County Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The quiet community was left reeling from the sudden loss of two of its own in such a public and violent manner.
The day following the deadly shooting, a significant development occurred in the investigation when 22-year-old Tyquaveon Isaiah Hartzog, a resident of Allendale, surrendered to the Allendale Police Department. In a crucial piece of evidence, Hartzog also turned over the handgun believed to have been used in the commission of the crime. This led to his arrest and subsequent charges of two counts of murder and one count of possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
Investigators were able to piece together some of the events of that night with the help of surveillance footage from the gas station. The video reportedly showed Hartzog exiting a Chevrolet Equinox holding a firearm. It also captured the harrowing moment that Murdaugh, having sustained a gunshot wound, fell to the ground beside the vehicle. An eyewitness account further placed Hartzog in the backseat of the car with both victims at the time the shooting occurred. While Hartzog asserted to investigators that his actions were in self-defense, authorities have not released a motive for the shooting or detailed any prior relationship between him and the two women. The case is slated to be prosecuted by the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office.
