Rock Hill SC homicide was unsolved. Then murder suspect wrote letter about it, warrant says
A Rock Hill man in jail for a 2021 homicide has been charged with murder for a second homicide after allegedly writing a letter about it, according to arrest warrants obtained by The Herald.
Jamie Gavantay Williams, 25, was charged Thursday with murder for the Aug. 31 shooting of Antwan Agurs off Heckle Boulevard in Rock Hill, according to arrest warrants and the York County Coroner’s Office. Williams was also charged with possession of a weapon during a violent crime, and unlawful carrying of a pistol, warrants show.
Agurs, 30, died after the shooting on Sept. 8 at a Charlotte hospital, said York County Coroner Sabrina Gast.
Williams has been in the York County jail since Nov. 23 on a murder charge from a different shooting that happened in the same area, records show. Rock Hill Police Department Lt. Michael Chavis confirmed Thursday night that Williams was developed as a suspect in the Agurs killing after he was jailed in November.
The Agurs homicide went unsolved until this week, when Rock Hill Police detectives charged Williams with murder in Agurs’ death, arrest warrants show. Warrants state that Williams shot Agurs several times.
Letters has unreleased details
Williams is believed to have written a letter that had details about Agurs’ death that police had not publicly released after the August shooting, the warrant states.
Rock Hill Police declined to say what details Williams included in the letter or whom he sent the letter to.
Meanwhile, a GPS monitor Williams wore on his ankle from a previous arrest earlier in 2021 put him at the scene of the Agurs shooting at the time the man was killed, the arrest warrant states.
Second homicide
Williams has been in jail since Nov. 23, for fatally shooting Kevion Harris, 32, that day, records show.
Police have not determined whether the two cases are connected by more than the same suspect, Chavis said.
“We are still investigating to see if there is a connection between the two cases,” Chavis said.
But Williams and Harris crossed paths before Nov. 23. Williams was wounded in a May 2021 shootout that also involved Harris at Carolina Place mall, according to police and court documents. The shopping center is in Mecklenburg County near the North Carolina state line.
Suspect was on bail in 2021 at time of killings, records show
Williams was free on bail from those pending Mecklenburg County charges at the time of both homicides, police and court records show.
South Carolnia court records show he also was free on a $23,000 bond for charges of drug trafficking and failure to stop for police from York County arrests in February and March 2021. Those York County charges remain pending.
Williams has previous convictions in York County for drugs and weapons charges from 2018 and 2017, court records show. He was sentenced to three years in the S.C. Department of Corrections in 2018, records show.
Williams also has a 2015 York County conviction for burglary, records show.
Williams was denied bail Thursday in a court hearing on the new murder charge.
This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 9:30 PM.
