Woman tried to hide her involvement in deadly biker gang brawl, sheriff says

Noah Feit
·2 min read

A woman was arrested nearly two weeks after a deadly fight between rival biker gangs at a Columbia motorcycle shop, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday.

Dawonda Thomas-Powell, 49, tried to hide her involvement in the violent melee on March 11 at Capital City Cycles on Two Notch Road, the sheriff’s department said in a news release.

Thomas-Powell conspired with fellow gang members to confront an opposing gang in a brawl that left one man dead and injured three, according to the release.

An employee of the motorcycle shop, Thomas-Powell was taken into custody Monday, the sheriff’s department said. She was charged with first-degree with assault by mob and obstruction, jail records show.

No bond has been set on the charges and Thomas-Powell remains locked up at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, according to jail records.

Thomas-Powell is the fourth person charged with being involved in the fight, according to the release.

On Friday, 25-year-old Corey Booth was charged with unlawful possession of a handgun, the sheriff’s department said.

A group of people piled on Booth, and he drew his gun and fired in defense, shooting a member of his own gang in the lower body and two members of the opposing gang in the upper body, the sheriff’s department previously said. Booth was stabbed in the brawl.

Information on the conditions of the shooting victims was not made available.

On March 12, James Hill, 58, was charged with murder and mob assault, and Kristopher Wheat, 36, was charged with mob assault, obstruction of justice, and unlawful possession of a handgun; according to the release.

Sheriff Leon Lott said Hill bludgeoned a man to death by striking into the pile of people and hitting him in the head several times with a cane. The man might have been a member of Hill’s own gang, Lott said.

The Richland County Coroner’s Office identified the victim as 55-year-old Charles E. Lilly of Beech Island.

Lott previously said the incident was “mayhem there for a while” and that, when deputies arrived, “the fighting and shooting and stabbing and beating was all in progress.”

The sheriff declined to name the biker gangs with which the men are allegedly associated, though he did say they were affiliated with “national” biker groups.

The sheriff’s department continues to investigate the fight.

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