By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Nearly five months after gunfire erupted at a crowded alumni gathering outside Willie’s Bar and Grill, a second survivor has filed a civil lawsuit alleging the bar’s operator illegally overserved alcohol and failed to protect patrons from a foreseeable act of violence.
The complaint, filed Feb. 27, in Beaufort County Court of Common Pleas, was brought by Beaufort County resident Sundeya Clark, who says she was among more than 20 people shot during the early morning hours of Oct. 12, 2025.
Four people were killed.
Clark’s lawsuit names Willie Turral Food Services, LLC, which operates as Willie’s, as the defendant.
According to the complaint, Anferny Devon Freeman arrived at the establishment armed with a firearm and was served alcohol despite being intoxicated, or was served to the point of intoxication, in violation of South Carolina law.
The filing alleges staff failed to recognize or respond to what it describes as a “dangerous state.”
The suit further alleges employees failed to remove Freeman from the premises and that the business did not implement adequate security measures before or during the shooting.
Freeman, 27, was arrested in November and charged with four counts of murder. According to Beaufort County Public Index records, the case was filed Nov. 14, 2025, and remains pending in General Sessions court.
A Beaufort County grand jury later returned indictments against Freeman, formally advancing the case toward trial.
Law enforcement officials have previously indicated they believe more than one person fired weapons during the altercation. A third suspected shooter has not been publicly identified.
Clark’s lawsuit asserts claims of negligence, negligence per se tied to alcohol service statutes, premises liability and negligent security. She is seeking actual and punitive damages and has demanded a jury trial.
The complaint alleges Clark suffered serious and permanent injuries, including physical pain, emotional distress, loss of income and ongoing medical expenses.
A second civil action
Clark’s filing follows a similar lawsuit filed in December 2025 by Quinnetta Clark, another survivor of the shooting.
In that case, Quinnetta Clark named Willie Turral individually, the LLC operating the bar, property owners James and Bernice Wright, Freeman and additional unnamed defendants.
The complaint alleged the premises had a “known history of violence” and that the defendants failed to anticipate and guard against a foreseeable risk of harm.
It is not immediately clear whether the two plaintiffs are related.
The earlier suit also included claims under South Carolina’s alcohol service laws and alleged inadequate security and crowd control at the alumni tailgate event, which drew hundreds of patrons to the Frogmore establishment that night.
What is “dram shop” liability?
Both lawsuits invoke what is commonly referred to as dram shop liability.
Under South Carolina law, businesses licensed to sell alcohol can be held civilly liable if they serve alcohol to a visibly intoxicated person, or allow a patron to become intoxicated, and that intoxication leads to injury or death.
The statutes cited in the earlier complaint include S.C. Code §§ 61-4-580 and 61-6-2220, which prohibit serving alcohol to intoxicated individuals.
In civil court, plaintiffs may argue that a bar’s unlawful service of alcohol was a contributing cause of the harm that followed. Those claims are separate from, and proceed independently of, any criminal prosecution.
License revocation and closure
In the days following the shooting, Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner publicly called for the bar’s liquor and business licenses to be revoked, describing the location as a repeat source of law enforcement calls.
The South Carolina Department of Revenue temporarily suspended the bar’s alcohol permits in the aftermath.
Willie Turral initially said he would fight to keep the business open but later announced Willie’s would close and outlined plans to convert the space into a community-focused development center.
No reopening date or redevelopment timeline has been filed in court records.
In January, Turral filed a separate lawsuit against the property owners alleging he had been unlawfully locked out of the building. That case was dismissed shortly after filing, according to court records.
As with all civil complaints, the allegations in Clark’s lawsuit have not been proven in court. The defendant has 30 days from service to file a response.
With two civil lawsuits now active and the criminal prosecution moving forward under indictment, the legal aftermath of the October shooting continues to unfold in parallel tracks one focused on criminal accountability, the other on whether the business that hosted the gathering shares responsibility for what happened.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.