In the early hours of August 22, 2019, a shooting at McCary’s Bar and Grill on Bush River Road in Columbia, South Carolina, left 29-year-old Tolliver Wise dead. The incident began when a man previously banned from the bar, identified as Ernest Condre Bethel, attempted to re-enter and was being removed by staff and patrons. Outside the establishment, Bethel allegedly fired multiple shots through the closed front door into the crowded bar.

The gunfire struck four people. Tolliver Wise died at the scene; 36-year-old Christopher Lott Jr. was also fatally wounded and later died at a local hospital. Two other patrons, Cameron Jenkins and Gregory Martin, survived but suffered serious injuries. The Richland County Sheriff’s Department identified Ernest Condre Bethel, then 26, as the suspect and issued a warrant charging him with murder, attempted murder, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. Bethel fled but was located in Thomasville, North Carolina, and taken into custody after a police pursuit and car crash on August 30, 2019, then extradited to South Carolina.

A key piece of evidence was surveillance footage from inside the bar that captured the incident. Anyone with information about Tolliver Wise or that night at McCary’s Bar and Grill is asked to come forward.