Tragedy Strikes: Mass Shooting at St. Helena Island Bar Claims Four Lives

Thu Oct 16 2025 07:18:56 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

Deputies investigate the aftermath of a mass shooting that left four dead and 16 injured at a crowded bar, struggling to gather witness testimonies. The shooting, which erupted from a personal dispute, has left the community in shock.

A weekend mass shooting at Willie’s Bar and Grill on St. Helena Island in South Carolina resulted in four fatalities and 16 injuries. Sheriff P.J. Tanner lamented the difficulty of gathering witness information despite a crowded scene prior to the shooting. Investigators are analyzing ballistic evidence and enhancing surveillance footage while assuring the community of their anonymity in providing information. The victims include local residents, and the incident has raised concerns about safety and cooperation within the community.

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 St. Helena 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 emphasized the option for anonymous reporting through Crimestoppers.

Tanner addressed reporters and the community Wednesday about the tragic event that unfolded near the last call at a party celebrating the 25th anniversary of Battery Creek High School's class of 2000.

Tanner described the scene as horrific, noting the indiscriminate firing in a crowd of around 300 people inside the bar and 400 outside at the time of the shooting.

“When that many shots are fired in a crowd with the volume of people we had — multiple people get injured. Multiple people died,” Tanner stated during Wednesday’s briefing.

Gathering evidence rather than eyewitness accounts takes significant time, the sheriff explained. Shell casings and bullets were sent to state agents, with the FBI working on enhancing video from the bar's interior and exterior. Beaufort County deputies were also testing DNA related to the incident.

The sheriff is committed to robust prosecution, stating, “What I’m not going to do is victimize these families a second time.”

Clarifying earlier reports, Tanner confirmed that 16 individuals were injured in this tragic incident. The deceased victims include Kashawn Glaze, 22; Chiraad Smalls, 33; Amos Gary, 54; and A’shan’tek Milledge, 22.

Willie’s Bar serves Gullah-inspired cuisine and prides itself on being a community pillar invested in local youth.

With an estimated 5,000 Gullah people on St. Helena Island, their lineage traces back to enslaved West Africans who worked on rice plantations before gaining freedom in the Civil War.