Man who killed innocent teen DoorDash driver in Rock Hill gunfire gets prison
A Rock Hill man who fired a gun during a fight on a Rock Hill street last summer and killed a teenage DoorDash driver who was just driving by has been sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Zykemian Havar Williams, 22, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter Thursday in York County criminal court in the death of Zy’Derec Massey, 17. Williams apologized in court for firing shots. One bullet pierced Massey’s windshield and killed the teen, whom Williams had known most of his life.
The shooting happened around 10 p.m. on June 27 on Finley Road west of downtown as Massey drove home after a shift delivering food, court testimony showed.
Williams had originally been charged with murder days after the shooting. Police and prosecutors said Williams fled the scene afterward and hid the gun.
Prosecutor Matthew Hogge and Williams’ lawyer agreed to drop the murder charge to a manslaughter offense with a sentencing range of 10 to 15 years for the killing, possession of a gun in a violent crime, and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute . When caught and arrested in early July, Williams had weed, a scale, and more than $1,300 cash, Hogge said.
Visiting Judge Eugene Griffith settled on a 13-year sentence. Griffith called the death “tragic. He said as a judge he’s seen “way too many situations very similar to this.”
“It breaks my heart that young people get involved in things like this,” Griffith said. “This loss of life. You can’t bring him back.”
Prosecutor: Innocent victim in “wrong place, wrong time”
The family set up a large picture of Massey in the courtroom so the judge could see what he looked like .
His mother, Linda Massey told the judge she knew Williams and his family for many years and she is trying to forgive. She said her son was only out that night “DoorDashing to make a little extra.”
She said she still is upset about the attempt to hide and cover up what happened.
“I can’t get my baby back,” she said. “It ain’t right.”
Massey’s father, Anthony Dunham, sobbed in court.
Hogge told Griffith that Massey had finished the DoorDash shift and was heading home when killed.
“He was completely innocent, it was wrong place, wrong time,” Hogge told Griffith. “He was just driving down Finley Road.”
The fight between two sets of teenage girls, including Williams’ sister, escalated on Finley Road when people had phones out to take video and two other men allegedly jumped in, Hogge said. That’s when Williams, who had stayed in a car, fired five shots, Hogge said.
A witness told police about Williams, and he was arrested in early July. The gun that had been hidden was later found because it was connected to an unrelated incident in neighboring Lancaster, Hogge said.
Hogge called the shooting a “tragic accident” and said Williams “did not intend to kill anybody.” Yet Hogge asked Griffith for the maximum of 15 years under the plea deal because the shooting happened in a crowded residential area.
“He made a terrible decision,” Hogge said. “It’s because of his actions, being a ‘tough guy’ and pulling out a gun and firing five rounds, and somebody is dead.”
Williams: “I understand that I took a life.”
Williams told the judge he was trying to protect his sister at the fight scene because “that’s what a big brother does.”
“I understand that I took a life,” he said. “I know it was wrong.”
His lawyer, Phil Smith of the 16th Circuit Public Defender’s Office, told Griffith the case is a “horrible situation” and asked for the minimum of 10 years under the plea deal. He said Williams, from their first meeting in the jail, told him of Massey: “Man, he shouldn’t have died, he was just trying to get home.”
Smith said the defense investigation showed the fight that night started with a person with a rake, then another with threats of a baseball bat, ending with the Finley Road fracas and a person not involved dead.
“It’s an insane story,” Smith told Griffith.
Williams had worked all that day as a landscaper in 90-plus degree heat.
Williams fired the shots to try and “run some people off,” Smith said. “He didn’t know his friend was driving down the street in the other direction,” Smith said.
Williams pleaded guilty to accept responsibility for what he did that night, Smith said.
Williams had been jailed since his arrest. He gets 232 days credit toward the 13-year sentence.
This story was originally published February 26, 2026 at 1:09 PM.
