Drive-by shooting Wednesday brings number of shootings to 8 in a month

Kwamain Nix

Jason Black

Mitchell

Deputies were called to the area of Poppy Hill Road at about 6 p.m. to reports of shots fired. Witnesses said a black Mercedes was driving back and forth on the road before a passenger opened fire on Willie Tolbert IV,who was walking down the street at the time, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office. He was not hurt in the attack.

Witnesses identified 18-year-old Kwamain Nix of Beaufort as the shooter, according to authorities.

A deputy spotted a vehicle matching the description of the one seen leaving the site of the shooting and stopped it, the Sheriff's Office said.

The car's driver, Andre Demonte Mitchell, 30, of Lobeco, Nix, and another passenger, Jason Lasalle Black, 20, of Sheldon were all arrested after deputies reportedly found three guns, marijuana and cocaine inside the Mercedes.

Nix faces six charges, including assault with intent to kill, unlawful carrying of a pistol, possession of a pistol by a convicted felon and providing false information to the police.

Mitchell and Black face charges of possession of cocaine, simple possession of marijuana, unlawful carrying of a pistol and accessory to a felony before the fact.

Nix was denied bond and is being held at the Beaufort County Detention Center. Mitchell and Black were being held at the detention center on more than $45,000 bond each.

Investigators say the shooting was part of an ongoing dispute between Nix and Tolbert, stemming from a 2007 shooting at the Semper Fi Club in Beaufort, where Tolbert reportedly shot Nix and two other men.

Tolbert was arrested in June 2007 and charged with three counts of assault with intent to kill. He was released from jail in February 2008 on a $150,000 bond.

The latest shooting brings the total number of reported shootings in northern Beaufort County since July 5 to eight, including the fatal shooting of a Beaufort sailor outside a Lady's Island club last weekend.

The Sheriff's Office also arrested the second suspect wanted in the drive-by shooting of a home on Beeburst Lane in Burton on July 5.

Antonio Larmont Pierce, 26, of Burton turned himself in late Wednesdayon five charges, including assault with intent to kill, discharging a firearm within a dwelling, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and providing false information to the police. He is being held at the Beaufort County Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing.

Investigators believe Pierce was one of three men inside a white SUV whose occupants shot into a house on Beeburst Lane, reportedly in retaliation to a shooting that same night where their relative, 29-year-old Kevin Holmes,was wounded by a gunman inside the Studio Seven nightclub in Burton.

Travis Javerne Holmes is the only suspect in the drive-by still at large.

Travis Sentell Holmes was arrested last week and later released from the Beaufort County Detention Center on a $45,000 bond.