“This is another case of how our young people are killing each other … it just has to stop,” 

That’s what Circuit Court Judge Debra McCaslin had to say after sentencing Daniel Taylor Jones, 22 of Lexington County, to 40 years in prison without parole after he was convicted for the murder of Barry Joe Chavis, Jr., 28, per a release from the 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.

The release adds that on top of the murder conviction, Jones was sentenced to 20 years for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and five years for possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, with all sentences set to run concurrently.

The murder took place March 27, 2020 at 3630 Fish Hatchery Road in the Gaston area of the county. Chavis was shot and killed in his front yard after a confrontation regarding a “small amount of money” with Jones and Christopher David Shumpert, Jones’s co-defendant, according to the release.

“After a brief altercation, Jones and Shumpert both fired guns toward Chavis, who was unarmed,” the release states. “Jones was armed with a .300 Blackout rifle and Shumpert was armed with a 9mm handgun”

The release states that both weapons were recovered from places that were associated with Jones.

According to the release, 21 rounds were fired at Chavis, with two hitting him in his back, killing him instantly. The release adds that another person present was shot by the duo twice, once in the leg and again in the stomach; he was released from the hospital a few days after the incident.

“Several witnesses at the scene immediately identified Jones and Shumpert as the shooters and law enforcement began a search for them,” the release details. “Jones was apprehended in Lexington County later that night while the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division tracking team apprehended Shumpert at a hotel in Aiken County early the next morning.”

According to the release, during the trial, Jones testified in his own defense, claiming that he was shooting at the ground and in self-defense, with the release adding that both evidence and testimony revealed that the shooting was not an accident or self defense.

Shumpert was sentenced similarly to Jones, being given 40 years in prison in March of last year after being convicted by a Lexington County Jury.

According to the release the investigation was led by Sgt. Michael “Joe” Hart with the assistance of other investigators with the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department’s major crimes unit, along with the state Law Enforcement Division and the Aiken County Sheriff’s Department. Deputy Solicitor Rhonda Patterson and Assistant Solicitor Bradley Pogue prosecuted the case.