Jaquarie Perry

Jaquarie Nasir Perry was a 16-year-old student at Summerville High School in South Carolina, where he was an athlete on the football and track teams. The life of the young Black male was cut short on the evening of January 27, 2020, when he was fatally shot in the Flowertown neighborhood across the street from his school.

That Monday evening, Perry was walking home from track practice. Nearby, at the Gates Apartments on Boone Hill Road, two groups of teenagers met for a gun sale that went wrong, erupting into a shootout. The violence spilled into the Flowertown neighborhood, where a second round of gunfire rang out. Perry, an innocent bystander, was caught in the crossfire. Deputies with the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office initially responded to a call about shots fired into apartments but were redirected when another caller reported a person had been shot. A woman flagged down an officer and led them to her home, where they found Perry in a back bedroom with a gunshot wound. Deputies performed CPR until EMS arrived, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office launched a homicide investigation. While early reports suggested Perry was involved in the gun deal, investigators later determined he was an innocent victim struck by a stray bullet. Aided by information from the community, the investigation moved quickly. Within days, authorities arrested three juveniles, ages 16 and 17, and an 18-year-old named Diante Xavier Shelton. Eventually, a total of eight people were charged in connection with Perry’s killing.

Among those arrested was Davieon’ta Tisdale, who was 15 years old at the time of the shooting. A family court judge later ruled that Tisdale would be tried as an adult. Rather than face a murder trial, Tisdale pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter on December 6, 2022.

Following the guilty plea, Circuit Judge Maite Murphy sentenced Tisdale, then 18, to 28 years in prison. The sentencing in December 2022 brought a significant development to the case, ensuring one of the individuals responsible for the fatal shooting would be held accountable for the death of Jaquarie Perry.