A crowd of 700, but no witnesses? South Carolina investigation into mass
shooting at bar stalls
[October 16, 2025]
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A sheriff said his deputies are methodically
investigating a weekend mass shooting that killed four people and
injured 16 more at a bar on a South Carolina island but haven't gotten
the kind of help they need from the hundreds of people partying before
the shooting.
No arrests have been made yet as investigators test DNA, analyze weapons
and bullets, and enhance video from the crime scene of the early Sunday
shooting at Willie’s Bar and Grill on St. Helena Island, Beaufort County
Sheriff P.J. Tanner said Wednesday.
Investigators think the shooting started as a dispute between two or
three people who grew up together in Beaufort County and started firing
at each other.
“We had 700 people at this party. And we have yet to get a witness that
can tell us who the shooters are. It’s ridiculous,” Tanner said.
The sheriff said he thinks people want to cooperate but fear
retribution. He said they can report what they know anonymously through
Crimestoppers.
Tanner took questions from reporters and the community Wednesday about
the shooting that happened near last call for drinks at a party
celebrating the 25th anniversary of the class of 2000 at Battery Creek
High School in Beaufort.
Tanner called the scene horrific but not surprising considering the
shots were fired indiscriminately in such a large crowd of about 300
people inside the bar itself and 400 outside.
“When that many shots are fired in a crowd with the volume of people we
had — multiple people get injured. Multiple people died,” Tanner said at
Wednesday's briefing.
Building a case based on evidence as opposed to eyewitnesses takes time,
Tanner said.
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A vehicle is parked outside of Willie's Bar and Grill in St Helena
Island, S.C. after a shooting occurred early Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025.
(AP Photo/Lewis M. Levine)
Shell casing and bullets, some taken from inside the victims, were
being sent to state agents on Wednesday. The FBI was trying to
enhance and analyze video from inside and outside the bar. And
Beaufort County deputies were testing DNA, Tanner said.
The goal is to make sure whatever charges are filed stick, the
sheriff said.
“What I’m not going to do is victimize these families a second
time," Tanner said.
Tanner refused to say exactly how many people may have fired or give
any identifying information about possible suspects.
The sheriff also clarified that 16 people were wounded in the
shooting. Initial reports said at least 20 were hurt by gunfire.
Kashawn Glaze, 22; Chiraad Smalls, 33; Amos Gary, 54; and A’shan’tek
Milledge, 22, were killed in the shooting.
Willie’s Bar serves Gullah-inspired cuisine and describes itself on
its website as “not just a restaurant but a community pillar
committed to giving back, especially to our youth.”
An estimated 5,000 or more Gullah people living on St. Helena Island
trace their ancestry back to enslaved West Africans who once worked
rice plantations in the area before being eventually freed by the
Civil War.
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