Greenville Police arrest and charge man in fatal shooting in Falls Park downtown

Greenville News

A fatal shooting took place near Falls Park Drive and Main Street in downtown Greenville on Sunday morning at 1 a.m.

One man was charged following a fatal shooting on Memorial Day weekend at Falls Park in downtown Greenville.

The Greenville Police Department charged Brian Josiah Murray, 28, of Greenville, with murder after he allegedly shot and killed William Shamari Shade, 27, early Sunday.

The shooting occurred at about 1 a.m. at Falls Park Drive and South Main Street in downtown Greenville. A spokesperson for the GPD said officers responded to 600 S. Main St., the address of 821 Greenville, a restaurant and cocktail bar. A verbal argument that started on Falls Park Drive between South Main Street and Rhett Street led to Murray shooting Slade, according to police. The two men knew each other.

A pedestrian crosses Falls Park Drive at Main Street on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, near where a fatal shooting took place in downtown Greenville on Sunday morning at 1 a.m.

Shade was located by officers with a gunshot wound to the chest and taken by ambulance to Prisma Greenville Memorial Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 2:40 a.m., according to the Greenville County Coroner's Office.

After officers provided a description of Murray and the vehicle he was driving, other officers on route to the scene located Murray’s vehicle and attempted to stop it, according to the GPD. When Murray failed to stop for officers, a brief pursuit occurred, ending on East Washington Street. and Laurens Road.

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Murray was arrested and charged with murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, and failure to stop for blue lights, according to the GPD. He was being held at the Greenville County Detention Center. He admitted to possessing a gun, according to the arrest warrant.

A bullet was discharged into a 2nd floor apartment at 155 RiverPlace on Falls Park Dr during an incident which began at 821 Greenville, a bar and restaurant across the street, on May 26, 2024. One man shot and killed in the incident, but no one in the apartment was hurt.

Another man, Jhiytavious Dominic Tykiee Brown, 21, of Anderson, was charged with aggravated breach of peace for firing a gun through the window of an apartment at 155 RiverPlace.

A warrant for Brown said several ammunition casings were located, but no one was injured, and that the incident was captured on CCTV and cellphone footage.

A Zoning and Occupancy Violation posted at 821 Greenville, a bar and restaurant on Falls Park Dr., on May 26, 2024. That same day at 1 A.M., one man was shot and killed in an incident which started at the bar.

A zoning and occupancy notice posted the day of the shooting, was on 821 Greenville Tuesday afternoon. A voicemail requesting information on the violation from the city's planning and development department was not immediately returned.

Chalmers Rogland covers public safety for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, Greenville News and USA Today Network. Reach him via email at crogland@gannett.com.