SUMTER, S.C. — An arrest has been made in a 2018 shooting in Sumter that left a man dead outside a family home, according to the Sumter Police Department.
Tas’Je Shakur Spann, 21, of Sumter, who was already in jail and facing charges in an unrelated murder case in the county, is charged with murder, attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime in the 2018 shooting. He also is charged with malicious injury to property, criminal conspiracy and discharging a weapon into a dwelling.
Police say Marcus Brown, 54, was sitting in his vehicle outside of his sister's home, taking a moment to relax, when he was fatally shot in an unexpected spray of gunfire in October 2018.
Brown was not the intended target, according to police, who were frustrated when no one took responsibility for their actions or came forward with information that could help Brown's family understand what happened and why.
On Friday, police say some of the family’s questions were answered and charges were filed against Spann. “Our determination to find answers and seek adjudication of those involved was as strong in 2021 as it was in 2018, when this tragedy first happened,” Chief Russell Roark said. “We hope that Brown’s family can now find some comfort in knowing that his shooter can be held accountable.’’
Police say Brown was not involved with the groups and criminal activity that led to his death the night of Oct. 30, 2018.
Police determined that Kalvin Epps, then 21, who sometimes stayed at the Salem Street home, was the intended target and was involved in a shooting on Silver Street about an hour earlier that night. Epps also was tied to other shootings in the west and South Sumter areas over a number of weeks.
Epps, who police say was on probation at the time of the shootings, was taken into custody in December 2018 and charged with multiple gun and drug offenses in the city and county.
Bond was denied Saturday morning for Spann. He and Epps remain in the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center.
Meanwhile, police say the investigation continues.
