On May 3, 2022, officers from the Aiken Department of Public Safety found 49-year-old Charles L. Bradley shot inside a Nissan sedan at the intersection of Hampton Avenue and Assembly Street. He was pronounced dead at the scene after police responded to reports of gunfire in the area around 11:05 p.m. That night produced three separate shooting incidents nearby; the other two caused only property damage.

Bradley was a father of six sons and one daughter. The investigation lasted about a year and identified two suspects. Javon Croft, 24, was arrested in the summer after the killing. The second suspect, 34-year-old Freddie Lee Simpkins, described in reports as a repeat offender, was taken into custody on the one-year anniversary of Bradley’s death after officers located him on a North Augusta porch and pursued him a short distance. Simpkins was already facing outstanding 2020 warrants for dealing cocaine, Ecstasy, and marijuana and had been linked to an attempted murder charge from a shooting the weekend before Bradley’s death.

Both men were charged in connection with Bradley’s killing. Anyone who knew Charles Bradley or who has information about the May 3, 2022 shooting is asked to come forward.