Aiken man dies in Sunday shooting

Bill Bengtson, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·1 min read

May 24—A 26-year-old Aiken man died of a gunshot wound Sunday afternoon, according to a report from the Aiken County Coroner's Office.

Darryl Ables, the coroner, noted that his office responded at 1:47 p.m. to a report of a shooting incident in the 500 block of Iris Lane, between Wagener Road and Old Wagener Road. Pronounced dead on the scene was Dexter Sullivan, of Iris Lane.

"The details of what led up to the shooting are still under investigation. Mr. Sullivan will be autopsied Wednesday," the report noted, adding that the Aiken County Sheriff's Office is continuing with the investigation.

Recommended Stories

  • Japan ramps up mass vaccinations in Tokyo and Osaka amid Covid surge

    The new vaccination drive in Tokyo and Osaka comes as hospitals struggle to cope with cases.

  • 3 Wuhan lab workers were sick enough to be hospitalized in November 2019, triggering calls to reconsider theory that COVID-19 originated in a lab: WSJ

    The Wuhan Institute of Virology hasn't released raw data or lab records on its work with coronaviruses in bats.

  • Dad of 4-Year-Old Slain in Dallas Apologizes for Leaving Kids

    via Trevor GernonThe father of the 4-year-old boy kidnapped from his bed and dumped dead on a Dallas street says he will never forgive himself for leaving his son and his twin brother with a friend while he skipped town under a cloud of legal problems.Trevor Gernon released a recorded statement on his sister’s YouTube account both apologizing for not taking care of his son Cash and asking the public not to be too hard on him.Gernon said that when he moved to Dallas, he moved in with an old friend, Monica Sherrod, and when he moved back to Houston “after an unsuccessful job hunt amongst other things,” he decided they would be better off with her.“I felt it was in the boys’ best interest to not disrupt their routine,” he said of Cash and his brother, Carter, who was not harmed and is now with his mother.“They were comfortable, they were around other kids, and from what it appeared, Monica was a trustworthy person. This choice I made with best of intentions has resulted in a most horrific outcome.”On May 15, an intruder was caught on a baby monitor camera sneaking into Cash and Carter’s bedroom at Sherrod’s home and lifting the still-sleeping boy from his bed.Two hours later, a passer-by found the child’s body tossed on the street. Police said he had been stabbed.Darriynn Brown, 18, who has some nebulous ties to Sherrod’s family, was charged with kidnapping and burglary, but police are waiting for the results of forensic tests to make a decision on murder charges. Investigators have not released a motive, and Brown’s mother has said she believes her son is being framed.Sherrod told reporters that Gernon left town after being ordered by a court into rehab. CrimeOnline obtained court records showing several outstanding charges against Gernon in Harris County.Gernon referenced his legal issues, saying in the recording, “I have to fear for my freedom, as it is the goal of some to see me go to jail rather than grieve the loss of my little boy.” He did not disclose his location or legal status.Crying at times, he did take responsibility for failing to protect the twins.“I have paid the most ultimate and painful price for my poor judgment and I have to live with this devastation every single day,” he said.“I will never forgive myself. If I could, I would go back and do everything different. This is a nightmare that doesn’t go away once I open my eyes in the morning. We just don’t understand how this could happen to such a bright and cheerful kid.”Addressing the boys’ mother, Melinda Seagroves, he added, “I am so sorry that I failed to keep him safe. That is my job as his dad and I was not able to do that and I’m sorry.”As The Daily Beast reported, Gernon has racked up a string of arrests over the years, serving 68 days in county lockup for a 2018 assault on his father during an argument over a credit-card bill.The Strange New Turn in the Case of 4-Year-Old Cash GernonFollowing his indictment on felony drug possession charges last November, he failed to appear for a March 29, 2021, hearing and thus forfeited a $10,000 bond payment. There is now an open warrant out for his arrest.Johnny Flanagan, whose son gave Gernon a job at his shop until they had a falling-out, told The Daily Beast: “He’s one of these guys that kind of goes whichever way the wind blows, you know, and he’ll do good for several months and then do bad for several months and you know, just up and disappear.”In the recording, Gernon pleaded for mercy in the court of public opinion.“I’m barely getting through a day that doesn’t take me to a dark place,” he said. “I hope you all could understand how fragile we all are and how quickly things can turn upside down…“I would hope that we can all cooperate and band together to make sure Cash gets the justice he deserves.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  • Damascus graduates plot to leave Syria as country heads for rigged election

    With less than a week to go before Syria's presidential election, Emad was giving little thought to politics or how to cast his vote. Instead, the engineering graduate was plotting an escape from spiralling rents, unemployment, and shortages of fuel and food that he described as unbearable. "I have little money to travel, but I have to leave, there’s nothing here for me anymore," he said in his flat in Western Damascus. "It’s becoming worse and worse, the bad economy, the falling currency, the growing corruption, the hard sanctions and only a small number of people are happy here, the country is only for the rich.” Syrians go to the polls on Wednesday to vote in a presidential election that the authorities here would like to present as a return to normality after a decade of devastating warfare. There is little doubt about the outcome of the election. Fifty-one candidates have been whittled down to three, and incumbent Bashar al-Assad shows no willingness to relinquish his grip on power after 21 years.

  • Pandemic Notebook: A 5th Grader’s Education in Chickens and Ducks

    Right now I have a splinter on my finger from building a duck fence, cuts on my hands and arms from duck and chicken claws and bruises on my hands from duck bites. Taking care of birds is hard work, but I like it. I have been going to school online since the coronavirus pandemic […]

  • Mickelson magic! Lefty secures PGA Championship to become oldest to win golf major

    He joins Lee Trevino and Nick Faldo in the record books with six major victories with his win on the Ocean Course in South Carolina.

  • Priti Patel: Britain must replace ‘broken’ immigration system with ‘firm but fair’ approach

    Britain's immigration system is too confusing and needs to be replaced with one that is fair but firm, the Home Secretary will say on Monday. It comes after Priti Patel revealed on Sunday that the immigration legislation and rules were 500 pages long and that the Home Office was in the process of simplifying them. She said Monday's announcement was based on the "digitalisation of our borders, but also the simplification of our immigration laws". Ms Patel told Trevor Phillips on Sunday that the digitalisation of borders would enable the department to "upstream checks", which she said was "important in terms of criminality". She will use her keynote speech at a conference to pledge a wholesale reform of the UK's "broken" immigration system by implementing a "fully digital border" within five years. She will also launch a US-style Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) which requires visitors to the UK to obtain an electronic permit before travelling. The Home Office said it would make the border more secure, with automated checks to prevent foreign criminals travelling to the country while enabling the Government to count who is coming in and going out. ETAs will be required by anyone without a visa or immigration status, although they will not be needed by Irish citizens, with ministers promising that the system will be operational by the end of 2025. During her speech, Ms Patel will say anything less than "wholesale reform" of the immigration system would not meet the demands of the public. She will say: "They want a new system that works for the law-abiding majority and against those who hope to abuse our hospitality and generous spirit. The immigration system is broken, but this country isn't. We can't fix the system overnight, but we will fix it." The Home Secretary will stress that the system will need to reflect "the values and wishes of the vast majority of Britons of all colours and creeds" and will add: "They simply want an approach to immigration that is fair but firm." It comes after the Government set out plans in the Queen's Speech earlier this month to toughen laws to deny refugee status to any asylum-seekers who have passed through a safe country before reaching the UK. The proposal was condemned by the United Nations refugee agency and charities who said it would be a betrayal of Britain's historic tradition of providing protection to people fleeing persecution. On Sunday, Ms Patel defended the plan, saying many asylum-seekers arriving in the UK had been smuggled by people traffickers. She said: "People that are being smuggled, they should be claiming asylum in the first safe country that they travel through – more often than not these are EU member states – rather than taking the risk of coming to the United Kingdom." However, Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow home secretary, said the Conservatives had had 11 years to fix a system that they "broke". "Clearly people who have no right to be in this country shouldn't be here, but what we have seen from the Home Office is utter incompetence on this," he said. "What we don't want to see is the Government deflecting blame for their own failure when it's their incompetence, their management and mismanagement of the Home Office that has been the problem."

  • Man killed while walking home to his apartment, SC police say

    No arrests have been made and investigators are trying to determine the motive for the deadly shooting.

  • BTS shattered their own record for most YouTube views in the first 24 hours with their new single 'Butter'

    BTS will perform "Butter" live for the first time at the Billboard Music Awards, which air Sunday, May 23 at 8 p.m. ET.

  • Former Trump advisor Michael Flynn claims the COVID-19 pandemic was fabricated to distract from the 2020 election

    The former Trump advisor falsely stated Friday that the coronavirus pandemic was invented before November 3 "to gain control" of society.

  • US intelligence found researchers at Wuhan lab were hospitalised shortly before coronavirus outbreak, report claims

    Republicans have pushed the ‘lab leak’ theory throughout Covid-19 pandemic

  • 'Ultra-maskers' say they'll keep wearing masks even though they've been vaccinated - and perhaps after the pandemic ends

    Many "ultra-maskers" don't want to take off their masks in public, even though the CDC says that's safe for fully vaccinated people.

  • ‘Hung out to dry’: Young journalist fired by AP speaks out against her dismissal

    ‘I am one victim to the asymmetrical enforcement of rules around objectivity and social media that has censored so many journalists,’ Emily Wilder says

  • Former Trump adviser Jason Miller ordered to pay $42,000 legal fees for failed defamation suit

    Following a failed defamation case, Mr Miller must cover journalist’ legal fees according to recently revealed court documents

  • Liz Cheney has no issue with restrictive voting laws stemming from Trump's false claims of election fraud

    Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) doesn't see a connection between former President Donald Trump falsely claiming the 2020 presidential election was rigged and GOP legislators across the United States passing restrictive voting laws. Earlier this month, Cheney was ousted from her Republican leadership position after repeatedly criticizing Trump and his claims, saying he was hurting democracy. During an interview with Axios on HBO that aired Sunday, her assertion that there is no link between Trump and the voting laws was met with pushback from journalist Jonathan Swan, who reminded Cheney that last month, Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) said Rudy Giuliani's false allegations of election fraud motivated lawmakers in his state to pass a law that makes it harder for voters to request and drop off absentee ballots and limits ballot drop boxes. "I think everybody should want a situation and a system where people who ought to be able to vote and have the right to vote can vote, and people who don't shouldn't," Cheney responded. Swan interjected, asking Cheney what problems Georgia, Texas, and Florida are trying to solve, since there hasn't been any evidence of widespread voter fraud. Each state is different with its own laws, Cheney said, and "what we can agree on is that what is happening right now is really dangerous." Cheney told Swan she will think about "sitting on the inaugural platform in January of 2001, watching Al Gore. ... I'm sure he didn't think he had lost. We had fought this politically very, very intense battle. And he conceded. He did the right thing for this nation. That is one of the one of the big differences between that and what we're dealing with now and the danger of Donald Trump today." More stories from theweek.com5 riotously funny cartoons about GOP resistance to the January 6 Commission21 runners killed after sudden, dramatic weather change during mountain race in ChinaBoycotting the 2022 Olympics

  • Dominic Cummings will say that Boris Johnson skipped first COVID-19 meetings to write a book on Shakespeare to fund his divorce, fear aides

    Aides to UK PM Boris Johnson fear that former top advisor Dominic Cummings will use his appearance before MPs to make damaging claims.

  • Getting tough with China is an opportunity to bring back bipartisanship in U.S. politics

    You can do your part by looking for the “Made in China” label and putting it back on the shelf, writes Bob Kustra.

  • Ady would like to join a loving, caring family that will spend lots of time with her

    Connecting with people and developing relationships are strengths of Adylef, who goes by the name Ady.

  • A doctor in Florida who died of COVID-19 left his family a baseball card collection worth $20 million

    Dr. Thomas Newman died of COVID-19 complications in January. His baseball card collection, amassed over 40 years, is worth an estimated $20 million.

  • Indian Olympic wrestler Sushil Kumar arrested in murder case

    Sushil Kumar is accused of being involved in the murder of fellow wrestler Sagar Dhankhar.