From staff reports
Two men were arrested last week in connection with the 2020 shooting death of Malcolm Moore at a pool party on Seaside Road on St. Helena Island.
On June 9, more than a year after the shooting, a Beaufort County magistrate issued warrants for the arrests of Tey’Veon Smalls, 22, of Ridgeland, and James Stafford Jr., 25, of St. Helena Island, for Murder and Possession of a Weapon during the Commission of a Violent Crime.
On Wednesday, June 23, with the assistance of the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), Smalls was located and arrested in Ridgeland.
On the morning of Friday, June 25, Stafford turned himself in to Sheriff’s Office deputies in Beaufort.
According to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, at approximately 9:55 p.m. on May 25, 2020, Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a report of a gunshot victim at a pool party on Seaside Road, St. Helena Island.
When deputies arrived, they located a wounded man — later identified as 27-year-old Malcolm Moore of Beaufort — and secured the scene for Beaufort County Emergency Medical Services to respond, treat and transport him to the Beaufort Memorial Hospital.
On the way to the hospital, Moore died as a result of the gunshot wounds.
According to investigators, there were more than 100 people at the party and some in attendance may have witnessed the shooting, but no subjects were immediately located or identified.
Over the past year, Sheriff’s Office investigators continued to locate witnesses and conduct interviews.
Eventually, in those interviews, witnesses identified the subjects responsible for Moore’s shooting death as Smalls and Stafford.
After his arrest, Smalls was taken to the Jasper County Detention Center to be held pending transport to Beaufort County later that day. Stafford was taken to the Beaufort County Detention Center.
As of press time, both remain incarcerated at the Beaufort County Detention Center.
