A late spring gathering on Saint Helena Island ended with the death of 30-year-old Anthony Rivers Jr. Rivers was outside a residence on Keystone Drive on May 29, 2021, when he was shot. He was taken to Beaufort Memorial Hospital but died of his injuries. The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office opened a homicide investigation.

Investigators identified 31-year-old Stephan Quinton Polite, a cousin of the victim, as a suspect and arrested him at a Saint Helena Island residence on June 21, 2021. Witnesses at the community card game said Rivers arrived intoxicated and argued with Polite; the dispute escalated, witnesses reported, when Polite retrieved a gun from his vehicle, pistol-whipped Rivers twice, and then shot him in the chest as Rivers was driving away.

Did anyone at the gathering or in the Saint Helena Island community know Rivers’ movements that evening or see what happened before the shooting?