Jordan Drake, a 23-year-old White man from Wingate, North Carolina, was shot and killed on the evening of Saturday, May 13, 2023, while visiting Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The shooting occurred around 7:20 p.m. inside a residence on Hartland Drive. Drake had arranged to meet with a childhood friend, Mitchell Keith Sykes II, to reconcile after a falling out.
During the meeting, Sykes pulled out a firearm and shot Drake in front of multiple witnesses, then fled the scene.
When Horry County police officers arrived, they found a fire rescue crew attending to Drake, who was lying face down with a significant amount of blood around him. He was pronounced dead at the location. Witnesses at the scene were described as very distraught by the event, which shocked neighbors who considered the area a quiet community where such violence was out of the ordinary.
Based on witness statements and physical evidence from the scene, police identified Sykes as the suspect. Just a few hours after the shooting, officers arrested Mitchell Keith Sykes II, then 21, of Monroe, North Carolina. He was charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. According to prosecutors, Drake and Sykes were from the same town in North Carolina and had been friends while growing up, but an unspecified disagreement had caused a rift between them.
On October 30, 2024, Mitchell Keith Sykes II, then 22, pleaded guilty to murder in Horry County Circuit Court. During the proceedings, prosecutors acknowledged the support of Jordan Drake’s family and friends, who attended every court hearing and provided an impactful statement to the court. Judge Benjamin Culbertson sentenced Sykes to 35 years in prison. Under South Carolina law, murder is a "day-for-day" offense, which means Sykes must serve the entirety of his sentence before he can be released. The case was closed with the conviction in October 2024.
