Investigators say the suspect and victims knew each other before one was killed and another was wounded near a Richland County church.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A 20-year-old man was arrested Thursday night after investigators said a planned meeting on Monticello Road in Richland County ended with gunfire that killed an 18-year-old and wounded another man before both reached a nearby church seeking help.
Authorities say Anthony Boyd now faces murder, attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime in the shooting that unfolded around 12:15 p.m. Thursday near Triumphant Praises Church International. The Richland County Coroner’s Office identified the person killed as Jordan T. Miller, 18, of Columbia. The sheriff’s department says detectives have determined Boyd and the two victims knew one another and had agreed to meet before the shooting, but the motive had not been publicly explained by Friday night.
The investigation began with emergency calls to the 7300 block of Monticello Road. When deputies arrived, they found two men suffering from gunshot wounds and gave aid until EMS reached the scene. One victim was pronounced dead there. The other was taken to a local hospital. Early coverage described the case as a shooting on Monticello Road, but church staff later explained that the attack itself did not happen inside the church. Instead, the wounded men drove there after being shot. That detail helped explain the unusual chain of events that left parishioners, church staff and deputies all converging at the same place in the middle of a weekday bingo gathering.
Sheriff Leon Lott said investigators concluded the meeting had been arranged in advance and that Boyd allegedly began firing once everyone was at the location. That account, repeated across several local reports, shifted the case from an unclear roadside shooting to one involving a targeted encounter between people who were already acquainted. Even so, major parts of the story remain unsettled. Authorities have not said whether the victims were related, have not released the name of the surviving man, and have not described the dispute or circumstance that brought the group together. They also have not said publicly how many shots were fired or what specific evidence tied Boyd to the gunfire.
As detectives worked the case, reporting showed the inquiry extended beyond the first scene. WIS said deputies were also investigating a connected location in the 1300 block of Heyward Brockington Road, about one mile away. At that address, investigators used a K-9 and a drone, and a vehicle was towed. Officials have not publicly laid out the role of that second site, but such follow-up steps often mark an effort to secure physical evidence, trace movements before or after a shooting, or preserve a vehicle believed to be linked to the people involved. By Thursday evening, the sheriff’s Fugitive Task Force and Special Response Team had found Boyd and taken him into custody without incident at about 7 p.m.
The case also landed hard in the surrounding neighborhood. In later local coverage, Booker Heights resident Sheresa Melvin said she had lived in the area since 2017 and had not seen violence like this in the community before. She said residents felt relief after learning in a neighborhood group chat that the suspect had been caught. Her comments captured the local unease that can follow a daytime killing near homes, a church and a community gathering place. The setting mattered: what began as a law enforcement response to a shooting quickly became a story about how gun violence spilled into a place where older residents had gathered for a routine social event.
Boyd was booked into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center after his arrest. Local outlets reported Friday that his bond would be handled later in General Sessions court. That leaves the legal process in an early stage, with charges filed but investigators still sorting out the motive, the status of the wounded survivor and the path that led the victims from the shooting site to the church. Further updates could come through court records, sheriff’s briefings or any later charging documents if prosecutors add detail to the narrative presented so far.
For now, the case stands as a fast-moving homicide investigation with one identified victim, one survivor still recovering, and a suspect already charged. The next major development is expected to come from the court process and from any new evidence investigators release about why the March 5 meeting turned deadly.
Author note: Last updated March 7, 2026.