Tyronda Sherrill Bellamy, 43, was shot and killed at her home on Alice Drive just outside Loris, South Carolina, in the early morning hours of Tuesday, September 17, 2024. Deputies were called about 5:30 a.m.; Bellamy was found in a back bedroom with a gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities say a verbal argument with her longtime boyfriend, 33-year-old Kenyarta Trayeli Smith, escalated to violence. Arrest warrants state Smith admitted squeezing the trigger of a 9mm handgun multiple times and that evidence indicated Bellamy was shot from behind. Smith, who had lived with Bellamy for eight years, was charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime and is being held without bail at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center.

Bellamy, born September 22, 1980, graduated from Miller Motte College and enjoyed singing and dancing; she is survived by her parents, six children, eight grandchildren, a sister and a brother. Does anyone in the Loris area have information about the couple or what led to the argument that morning?