George Ragin Jr., 37, was fatally shot in the early hours of May 3, 2026, at the Ashburn Inn on Alex Harvin Highway in Manning, South Carolina. Deputies from the Clarendon County Sheriff’s Office were called to the motel around 2:40 a.m.; Ragin was found with a gunshot wound to his upper body and was pronounced dead at the scene. The community reacted with shock and grief to the unexpected violence.

Investigators moved quickly. Within hours a person of interest was identified as 57-year-old Willie Ray Nelson Jr., of Buffalo Junction, Virginia. Nelson was located later that afternoon at a residence in Williamsburg County and taken into custody on outstanding warrants for unrelated crimes; he was transported to the Clarendon County Detention Center and held as the primary suspect in Ragin’s shooting.

Did anyone in the Manning area see or hear anything at the Ashburn Inn around 2:40 a.m. on May 3 that could help investigators?