Inset: Jayvion N. Rice (Spartanburg County Detention Center). Background: The area in South Carolina where Rice allegedly killed his girlfriend (Google Maps).
A 19-year-old man in South Carolina is accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend during a domestic dispute, leaving the victim”s 3-year-old child on the couch calling for his mother.
Jayvion Nyrek Rice was taken into custody and charged with one count each of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in the slaying of 21-year-old Skyy Ernestasjah Logan, court records show.
At about 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 3, deputies with the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of an accidental shooting at a home located on Farm Creek Road in Inman, local NBC affiliate WYFF reported. The residence is about 250 miles northwest of Charleston, South Carolina.
Rice’s mother placed the 911 call, local CBS affiliate WSPA reported.
Upon arriving at the address, first responders located a woman, later identified as Logan, outside on the front porch suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the torso. Paramedics transported the victim to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center where she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead shortly before midnight.
In his initial statement to investigators, Rice told deputies that he was handling a firearm in the home when the gun accidentally went off, firing a round that struck Logan. However, the sheriff’s office reportedly obtained physical evidence contradicting Rice’s claim that the shooting was accidental.
Specifically, deputies reportedly discovered that the defendant and the victim had been in a romantic relationship and were in the middle of an argument when Rice fatally shot Logan. He was placed under arrest at about 1 a.m. on Wednesday, jail records show.
Rice made his first appearance in court on Wednesday where a county judge informed him that, if convicted, he faced a maximum possible sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors seeking to keep Rice held without bond until his trial provided additional details about the circumstances of the alleged murder, indicating that at least part of the shooting was captured on camera.
“The victim is 21-year-old Skyy Logan,” Assistant Solicitor Anthony Leibert told the judge in footage posted by WSPA. “Her 3-year-old little boy was sitting on a couch after the shooting, calling his mother’s name. He doesn’t know yet, he’s never gonna see her again. She was shot one time in the neck and the chest area. On the video, there’s blood exploding out of her body before she collapses and dies.”
The judge sided with prosecutors and ordered Rice to be held in the Spartanburg County Detention Center without bond. He is currently scheduled to make his next court appearance on April 16, records show.
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