Augusta homicides surpass last year’s total of 33

From Nov. 21- 26, there were four to push total to 35.

‘ Most of the incidents we are seeing, especially with the young people, it’s frequently because they felt disrespected.’

Patrick Clayton

Richmond County chief deputy sheriff

Richmond County has surpassed last year’s homicide total after a spate of slayings last week.

From Nov. 21 to Thanksgiving Day, there were four homicides resulting in five deaths, which brought the year’s total to 35 with 37 victims. Last year, there were 33 homicides with 35 victims in all of 2019.

Chief Deputy Patrick Clayton said the sheriff ’s office i s t r ying to reduce homicides by removing firearms from the streets. Most of the homicides in Augusta were shootings.

“It’s been something we’ve been fighting for some time, fighting very heavily over the last several years, even more intensely this year,” Clayton said. “Through our combined efforts and proactive teams, we seized around 400 firearms from different people on the streets.”

The first homicide of the recent surge occurred Nov. 21 when Ketron Mccray, 18, was shot and killed in the 400 block of Aiken Street. No arrest has been made.

On Nov. 23, Mequel Freeman, 48, and Wyman Scott, 34, were found fatally shot inside a Harrisburg barbershop. No suspect has been named.

The next day, Joshua Hadnot, 30, was shot and killed at Benson Apartments on Williamsburg Drive. Jeremiah Long, 26, was arrested and charged with murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.

T h e l a t e s t h o m i c i d e occurred Thanksgiving morning when Benjamin Chavous, 4 4 , was s hot a nd k i l l e d. Robert Olyowski, 44, was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter.

The Richmond Count y Sheriff ’s Office has made at least one arrest in 27 homicide cases and currently has eight active cases, according to Augusta Chronicle records.

“We want to make quick arrests, but what we really want to do is we want to prevent them,” Clayton said.

The homicide spike is not limited to Augusta. Aiken County saw two homicides over the weekend, bringing its total to 17 for the year, up from seven in 2019, accordi ng to Chronicle records. The Aiken County Sheriff ’s Office has investigated 12 of the 17 homicides, while the Aiken Department of Public Safety has investigated the other five.

Columbia County has had five homicides so far this year after only two in 2019, according to the Columbia County Sheriff ’s Office.

According to the Police Executive Research Forum, a national membership organization of police executives, cities across the U. S. are seeing significant increase in homicides and shootings they have not experienced since the 1990s.

The group analyzed crime data from 67 of the largest American cities between Jan. 1 to Sept. 30 and compared them to the same nine- month period in 2019. According to its findings, 58% of agencies reported an increase in homicides and 65% of agencies reported more aggravated assaults. There has also been an increase in people carrying guns and in juveniles being involved in shootings and other violence.

Clayton said people are too often trying to solve their problems with guns. He said fights among juveniles that once would j ust result i n bruises or black eyes now end in homicides.

“Unf o r t u n a t e l y, i t h a s become normal,” he said. “Most of the incidents we are seeing, especially with the young people, it’s frequently because they felt disrespected.”

Clayton said most homicides start as a small confrontation and escalate to a shooting. He said the community can help by reporting an escalating situation or someone they know shouldn’t be carrying a firearm.

“If people would call us when they see something that can potentially escalate, we can deal with it,” he said. “In most of these situations, when you really dissect them, you find that the people that were usually involved, they were looking for trouble and they found it.”