Suspect faces firearm, aggravated breach of peace charges following Wednesday evening incident
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
A Beaufort man remains in custody after police responded to a shots fired call Wednesday evening at Parker’s Kitchen on Trask Parkway.
According to the Beaufort Police Department, officers responded to the convenience store shortly after 5 p.m. June 10 after receiving reports of shots fired. Police said a known suspect remained inside the business and was taken into custody without further incident.
No injuries have been reported.
Beaufort County Detention Center records show Tyrik Montez Palmer, 26, of Burton, was booked into the jail at 5:54 p.m. Wednesday by the Beaufort Police Department.
Palmer was charged in Beaufort Municipal Court with discharging a firearm in city limits. A separate General Sessions case filed June 11 charges him with breach of peace, aggravated in nature.
Court records show a bond of $1,087.50 was set on the firearm charge and a $50,000 surety bond was set on the aggravated breach of peace charge. As of Friday morning, Palmer is still detained at the Beaufort County Detention Center.
A video apparently livestreamed by Palmer before and during his arrest provides additional context surrounding the incident.
In the recording, Palmer appears to deliver what he described as a final message while discussing the likelihood that he would be arrested and jailed. Throughout the video, he expresses despair and repeatedly references waiting for police to arrive. The recording appears to show Palmer waiting inside the store for officers rather than attempting to leave before police arrived.
At one point, Palmer says he had told everyone else to leave the store and questioned why officers had not yet entered the building.
“I told everybody to get the f— up,” Palmer says in the recording.
He later speculates about how responding officers might react when they entered the store.
“Ain’t no telling how far they gonna come in this b—- or if they gonna start shooting first or whatnot,” he says.
He later tells viewers he was “just accepting s— for what it is” as he continues to wait for the police to enter the convenience store.
The video then captures Beaufort police officers entering the business and attempting to locate Palmer.
“Put your hands up,” an officer can be heard saying as officers move through the store.
When asked where he was located, Palmer replied, “In the chip aisle.”
Officers then ordered Palmer to his knees before taking him into custody without any apparent struggle.
The recording later captures officers clearing and securing portions of the store while discussing the building’s layout and points of entry.
Near the end of the recording, officers appear to realize the encounter had been livestreamed. One officer can be heard telling another officer to “see if he wants to end the stream,” though it is unclear from the recording who the officer was referring to.
Moments later, officers ask Palmer whether there were any additional weapons and inquire about the location of a firearm.
“You got anything else anywhere?” an officer asked.
“No,” Palmer replied.
“Where’s the gun?” the officer then asked.
Beyond confirming officers responded to a shots fired call and arrested a suspect, Beaufort Police have released few details about the circumstances surrounding the incident. It remains unclear how many shots were fired, whether customers or employees were inside the store at the time, where the rounds struck, or what led up to the incident.
Public Index records show court filings were made in both the municipal and General Sessions cases on June 11, though supporting documents were not publicly available online as of Friday morning.
The Island News has requested additional records related to the case and will update this story as more information becomes available.
Editor’s Note: The Island News reviewed a livestream video recorded by the suspect before and during his arrest. The newspaper is not publishing the recording in its entirety at this time.
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.