On a Wednesday evening in Seneca, South Carolina, a neighborly dispute turned fatal, ending the life of Ronnie Lee Cobb, a 62-year-old Black man. The incident occurred on February 22, 2023, just outside the apartment on East South Second Street where Cobb lived. He had just returned home on his moped when he and a neighbor became involved in a verbal altercation.
The argument escalated tragically when the neighbor, William David Morgan, went back inside his apartment and returned with a
12-gauge shotgun. Police received a call about the shooting at approximately 7:02 p.m. and arrived to find Cobb in a common area of the apartment complex. He had been shot in the chest and succumbed to his injuries that night. An autopsy later confirmed that Cobb died from a single shotgun wound, and the Oconee County Coroner’s Office classified his death as a homicide.
Investigators from the Seneca Police Department identified Morgan as the suspect. He had barricaded himself inside a nearby apartment and initially refused to come out, but he surrendered to officers about 30 minutes later. Authorities took Morgan into custody and charged him with murder, unlawful possession of a handgun, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. According to Morgan, he and Cobb had been neighbors for 10 years and had been friendly at times, but he claimed that recently other people at the complex had accused him of being a police informant.
Instead of proceeding to a jury trial for murder, William David Morgan appeared in Oconee General Sessions Court and accepted a plea deal. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. Judge Debra McCaslin sentenced Morgan to 25 years in prison for the killing of his neighbor.
During the sentencing, Cobb’s daughter, Lekesha Benson, a Seneca city councilwoman, spoke on behalf of the family. She described the lasting trauma of seeing her father’s body and the nightmares that followed, telling the court she hoped Morgan would die in prison. With the guilty plea and sentencing, the case is resolved.
