A shootout between two to three people during the early morning of October 12, 2025, at Willie's Bar and Grill on St. Helena Island in South Carolina, United States, killed four people and injured 16 others.
None of the suspects in the incident have yet to be apprehended. The shooting happened during an informal Battery Creek High School alumni gathering at the bar and was one of several shooting incidents across the country throughout October involving alumni or school sporting events.[1][2][3][4]
Background
St. Helena Island is the largest population center for the Gullah, an African American ethnic subgroup, on the South Carolina coast. The bar, where the shooting took place, describes itself as serving authentic Gullah-inspired cuisine, and was hosting an informal Battery Creek High School alumni event at the time.[5][6] On November 15, 2022, when the bar was known as the Island Grill, another shooting at the establishment wounded two people.[7][8] The area of Frogmore, where the bar is located, is considered to be the commercial hub of the island.[8]
The ongoing alumni event was not organized or sanctioned by the high school.[9] The Battery Creek High School Alumni Association had hosted a tailgating event in Yemassee prior to the shooting. The group clarified that they had not organized any event at the bar, but said that many people who had participated in the tailgate later went to the bar.[10]
Shooting
Just before 1am, authorities were called to Willie's Bar and Grill, located in the area of Frogmore in response to a reported shooting. Officers found a large crowd, with 20 people suffering from gunshot wounds.[11] Multiple victims and patrons of the bar fled to nearby businesses and properties to escape the gunfire. The shooting reportedly began in the back of the bar.[8]
Victims
The Beaufort County EMS rushed four victims to area hospitals in critical condition while some victims transported themselves to nearby hospitals. Four victims, three men and a woman, suffered fatal injuries while 16 others were injured. The four deceased victims were identified as Kashawn Glaze, aged 22, Chiraad Smalls, aged 33, both of Beaufort, A'shan'tek Milledge, aged 22, of Burton, and Amos Gary, aged 55, a resident of St. Helena Island.[12] Milledge was the daughter of a Battery Creek High School alumni and had gone to the bar after the officially sanctioned event and Gary was a security guard for the bar.[10][13]
As of October 15, two of the victims in critical condition were reported to be recovering.[14] The youngest victim was reportedly a 17-year-old girl.[8][15]
Investigation
The Beaufort Police Department, Port Royal Police Department, South Carolina Highway Patrol, the U.S. attorney's office, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) responded or assisted the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office in the incident.[16] No arrests have been made, but police said that they were investigating a person of interest.[17] The person of interest was arrested on October 14 on charges of an unrelated 2024 case and bonded out, but was re-booked for failing to pull over when a police officer signaled the driver to do so in March 2023 after a motion to have their bond revoked.[18] The same day, the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office said that online claims that a suspect had been taken into custody were false.[19]
On October 15, Beaufort County sheriff P.J. Tanner said in a press conference that two or three individuals in the crowd had opened fire during a feud, that they knew each other, and that it could potentially be described as a gang-related.[14][16] Tanner also said that while they believe they know who the suspects are in the incident that no witnesses had come forward with details about the incident. The sheriff explained that the reason why no one had yet to be apprehended was because building a solid case based on evidence rather than eyewitness accounts takes more time and that his goal was to ensure that whatever charges filed against the suspects would have the best chance of sticking. Tanner also said that evidence from the scene of the shooting had been sent to state agents, that the FBI was attempting to enhance and analyze video from inside and outside the bar, and that his office was analyzing DNA found at the scene.[11]
Tanner said that the number of victims who were shot in a short span of time supported the idea that a weapon used was capable of firing dozens of rounds in seconds. While the sheriff did not confirm the weapon used in the shooting he called illegally modified weapons "a serious and growing danger".[20]
Reactions
The owner of Willie's Bar and Grill, Willie Turral, said that he was inside the bar at the time of the shooting. Turral claimed that there was no sign of trouble before the outbreak of gunfire and described a "rapid succession of shots" and seeing people performing CPR, picking others up, and crying after the shooting ended. Turral said that his priority was to care for the well-being of the families of the victims and his staff rather than to worry about the future of the bar.[21][22]
Political
South Carolina senator Tim Scott and South Carolina representative Nancy Mace both posted on social media condolences for the victims.[15] Scott described the incident as "tragic" and "heartbreaking" and said that South Carolinians would "be holding those affected close in our hearts in the days ahead". Mace said that she was "completely heartbroken" about the shooting and implored people to contact the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office if they had any information about the incident.[23]
South Carolina governor Henry McMaster described the shooting as "unfortunate", and said that gun bans were not the solution. McMaster also said that he had not spoken to local authorities as he believed that they had it under control. McMaster opined that in order to help prevent future violence, prosecutors should impose stricter sentences on repeat offenders and perpetrators of violent crimes and expressed support for requiring all magistrates to also be attorneys.[24]
Businesses and organizations
On October 15, a local businessman offered a $5,000 reward for information that helped to apprehend the suspects.[25] Later, another local businessman, in conjunction with the Crime Stoppers of Beaufort County, offered a $10,000 reward for information that led to the arrest of a suspect.[26]
The Penn Center, which is located south of the bar on the same road, and other groups have worked to preserve Gullah culture and identity in the region and prevent gentrification.[27][28] The center released a statement which said that they would not "stand by" as violence afflicted the community which they had worked with for 163 years and that they believed "that our collective strength and resilience will guide us through these dark times".[29] The Penn Center announced that there would be more security personnel deployed during the annual Heritage Days events and that they would put a cap on the number of parade floats allowed to stay within the allotted one hour time frame for the parade. The Department of Transportation and Beaufort County Sheriff's Office also refused to allow for the full closure of U.S. Route 21 during the scheduled parade, citing safety concerns, but they would instead keep one lane of the highway open and form a protective barrier for the revelers. In response to the failure to secure the full closure of the highway, state representative Michael F. Rivers said that he would work to create a bill which would facilitate state-level recognition of the Penn Center and a designation of the usual route as an official parade route.[30]
Community
On October 14, a gun violence awareness event was held in Beaufort County by Put Down the Gun Now Young People, a Greenville-based organization, in reaction to the shooting.[31] Some community members spoke positively of the bar, while others claimed that violence is a common occurrence at the bar and that they had reached out to county council members to have it closed.[32]
The leader of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, Chieftess Queen Quet said after the shooting that "the people whose blood was spilled joined with the blood of our Gullah/Geechee ancestors that is deep within this soil and still pulsates through the bodies and hearts of those who are their family members". Queen Quet lamented that the attack overshadowed the celebrations about protecting the island's Cultural Protection Overlay District which occurred a day before the attack.[33]
Beaufort County officials organized a meeting at Whale Branch Early College High School to provide professional counseling resources to residents affected by the shooting. The meeting was spearheaded by pastor Isaac Gordon, a member of the Beaufort County School District board, in response to hearing from residents who expressed that they were unable to sleep at night after the attack.[34]
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