Wyatt Short, a 22-year-old White/Caucasian male from Pendleton, South Carolina, was fatally shot on the night of April 22, 2023, during an encounter outside a residence in the Central area of Pickens County. Shortly after 10 p.m., deputies with the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to a shooting near Old Shirley Road and Sheriff Road. When they arrived, they found Short lying in front of a residence suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the chest.
Emergency personnel transported him by helicopter to Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital, but he died from the injury. The Pickens County Coroner’s Office classified the death as a homicide caused by a gunshot wound.
Investigators determined that Short and the person accused of shooting him knew one another and that the violence followed an argument. According to the arrest warrants, Wyatt Anthony Scott Pelfrey and Short became involved in the dispute before Pelfrey allegedly pulled a pistol and shot Short. Authorities said Pelfrey then fled the scene. Deputies searched the surrounding area that night but were unable to locate him, while detectives began gathering evidence and identifying the person responsible.
The investigation quickly focused on Pelfrey, who was 17 at the time. Detectives obtained warrants charging him with murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Because of the seriousness of the allegations, authorities announced that he would be prosecuted as an adult. The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office and members of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force pursued information about his location while warning that he was believed to be armed.
The search ended on April 24, two days after the shooting. Shortly after 4 p.m., members of the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office Community Action Team located Pelfrey at a residence in the Six Mile area and took him into custody. He was transported to the Pickens County Detention Center and formally charged with murder and the weapons offense in connection with Short’s death.
The case later became centered on Pelfrey’s contention that the shooting was an act of self-defense. In December 2024, he appeared in Pickens County court for a stand-your-ground hearing in which his attorneys sought immunity based on that claim. One witness who had known both Short and Pelfrey testified about prior interactions with Short but acknowledged that he had not witnessed the fatal encounter. Prosecutors challenged the relevance of that testimony on that basis. Pelfrey’s girlfriend also testified, and prosecutors questioned differences between portions of her courtroom testimony and an earlier written statement. Pelfrey himself took the stand and maintained that he had shot Short in self-defense.
The criminal case ultimately resulted in Pelfrey serving a sentence for voluntary manslaughter rather than murder. Current South Carolina Department of Corrections records list Wyatt Anthony Pelfrey under Pickens County indictment 23GS3901719 with an active 14-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter. The sentence is recorded as beginning on April 22, 2023, the date Short was killed, with Pelfrey entering state Department of Corrections custody on March 20, 2025. The state record lists a projected release date of March 13, 2035 and states that he is not eligible for parole. The current corrections record lists voluntary manslaughter as his active offense and does not show a separate active sentence for the weapons charge originally filed after the shooting.
