On the evening of September 18, 2024, William Lee Mathis Jr., a 42-year-old Black man, was riding a bicycle near Columbia Avenue and Chesterfield Street in Aiken, South Carolina, when an attempted armed robbery turned fatal. Authorities say Sabastyen Miles Greene, 22, approached Mathis, pointed a firearm at him and during an altercation allegedly shot him once in the chest. Mathis was found unconscious and taken to Aiken Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Investigators identified Greene as the primary suspect. Evidence recovered at the scene included a cup with DNA that did not match Mathis, and police say a second person drove the getaway vehicle, a white 2000 Ford Explorer. Tristen Jersey McCarty, 17, was arrested and charged as an accessory before and after the fact to murder; Greene has been charged with murder and weapon possession. Both were being held at the Aiken County Detention Center as the case continued.

If anyone witnessed the robbery, the arrival or departure of the white 2000 Ford Explorer, or knew William Mathis’s movements that evening, please come forward with information.