On the evening of Wednesday, June 27, 2018, 27-year-old Ryan Rasheed Bryant was fatally shot in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, after what began as a planned drug transaction. Bryant had arranged to meet 47-year-old Javaline Tyree Dawkins for the exchange. According to accounts, Dawkins kidnapped Bryant and drove with him confined in the trunk of Bryant’s red 2010 Cadillac. Bryant was seen attempting to escape from the trunk while the vehicle traveled on Highway 17 Bypass; he was shot near 29th Avenue North, close to Broadway at the Beach.

An off-duty police officer heard the gunshot and reported it. Myrtle Beach officers found Bryant with life-threatening injuries around 9 p.m.; they performed CPR until EMS transported him to Grand Strand Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later. Dawkins was arrested and charged with murder, kidnapping, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and being a felon in possession of a firearm; a judge denied bond at the initial appearance and sent the case to circuit court.

Did anyone in the Myrtle Beach area see the Cadillac on Highway 17 Bypass that night or have information about the transaction or the moments afterward?