‘Cowards’: SC fugitive arrested in drive-by shooting that killed Midlands 6-year-old
Police have arrested a third person in connection with the recent drive-by shooting death of a 6-year-old Midlands boy, the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.
Michael Lloyd, 20, was taken into custody early Monday morning in Ontario, New York, and will be charged with murder, Orangeburg Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said in a news release.
Lloyd’s arrest comes a day after authorities announced charges against two other people allegedly involved in the fatal shooting of Winston Hunter, who died May 13 after the occupants of a vehicle fired into his home in North, a tiny town in Orangeburg County.
“A child was retiring for the night after an evening with family and friends,” Ravenell said in the news release announcing the arrest of the third suspect. “And now he’s gone because of these cowards.”
Authorities believe the suspects drove from West Columbia to North that night to make a drug buy or robbery but aren’t sure what led them to shoot into the young boy’s home, which appears to have been targeted by mistake, police have said.
No drugs were found inside the home, and there are no ties between any of the suspects and the boy’s family, Ravenell said.
In addition to Lloyd, police have charged Ethan Thorne Anderson, 19, of West Columbia, and a 17-year-old for their alleged roles in Winston’s death.
Anderson, who was taken into custody Friday, faces a charge of murder, three counts of attempted murder and four counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, Ravenell said.
The 17-year-old, whose name has not been released due to his age, was picked up Friday in New York and will be charged as an adult, the sheriff said.
Ravenell credited the U.S. Marshals’ New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force and multiple local, county and state police departments in New York for their efforts to apprehend the out-of-state suspects.
“We had law enforcement across the country looking for these suspects,” he said. “I said we would not stop until we found them.”
The investigation into the young boy’s killing is ongoing, and Ravenell vowed Monday that anyone else involved would be charged.
A 29-year-old man who turned himself in after being named a person of interest in the shooting was in custody Sunday, but Ravenell declined to say what charges the man was facing.
The Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office has been assisted in its investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, Lexington County Sheriff’s Department and North police.
This story was originally published May 30, 2022 at 2:02 PM with the headline "‘Cowards’: SC fugitive arrested in drive-by shooting that killed Midlands 6-year-old."