Rock Hill brothers-in-law angry over ‘fake drugs’ charged with killing uninvolved man
A man in Rock Hill was gunned down in a drive-by shooting by two brothers-in-law who sought vigilante justice after allegedly being sold fake drugs, police said Thursday in court.
The victim was not involved in the transaction, police said.
Harterius Massey, 29, of Winston-Salem, N.C., was shot and killed Feb. 19 while standing in a driveway on Rich Street, Rock Hill Police Department Detective Matt Beach said.
Massey is African-American. He was visiting family and had no involvement with the suspects or drugs, police said in court.
The suspects, Brendon Robert Meyers, 24, and Jarod Michael Nelson, 24, are brothers-in-law, Beach said. Both are charged with murder and conspiracy. Meyers and Nelson both are white.
Thursday’s court hearing for Meyers was held because Meyers was arrested in Kentucky a week ago, then extradited to South Carolina Thursday. Nelson was arrested the week before Meyers and is already in jail, court documents show.
Nelson claimed he was sold “dummies,” or fake drugs, on Carolina Avenue earlier on Feb. 19, Beach said.
“Nelson and Meyers were seeking retribution for the dummies,” Beach told Rock Hill Municipal Court Judge Jane Modla. “The person who sold the dummies was not Harterius Massey.”
Witnesses told police an SUV, which police believe Meyers and Nelson were in, cruised the neighborhood seeking the drug seller, then Massey was fatally shot, Beach said.
“They were willing to take the law into their own hands and go so far as to kill someone who was not even involved,” Beach said in court.
The accused duo were so cavalier about the killing that Meyers went on vacation to Colorado, and Nelson went to work, Beach said. The suspects later sold the SUV in Columbia, Beach said.
Victim a musician; his mother distraught
Harterius Massey was an aspiring musician who had scheduled a trip to New York to record, his mother, Cassandra Massey, told Modla. Her son had come to Rock Hill to visit before the trip, which he hoped would propel his music career.
His nickname was “50k,” according to his obituary published in The Herald
Cassandra Massey said in court that she was sickened that people could take the life of her son over fake drugs.
“You were just looking for somebody,” Cassandra Massey said in court standing near Meyers as she fought tears. “For fifty dollars, you picked somebody to kill and my child was it.”
Suspects faces up to life in prison if convicted
Meyers said nothing in court Thursday except that he had hired a lawyer. His lawyer, Robby Bruce of Rock Hill, was present but did not address the charges.
Modla denied bond for Meyers, as she did in late February for Nelson.
Each faces as much as 45 years to life in prison if convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, Modla said in court.
Both suspects will remain in the York County jail pending trial.
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 5:19 PM.
