Shooting death involving North Myrtle Beach restaurant owner reopened nearly 2 years later
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Scott Spivey
The North Carolina man was killed in shoot out along a South Carolina rural highway. Nearly two years after, his death is getting a new investigation.
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Nearly two years after Scott Spivey died in a hail of gun fire along the side of a South Carolina rural highway, his death is getting a new investigation.
Horry County Police Chief Kris Leonhardt announced Wednesday that the department has requested the case be reviewed once more by both the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the FBI.
The request was made after Horry County received continuing questions related to Spivey’s shooting on Camp Swamp Road in September 2023. The shooting was previously investigated by SLED and reviewed by the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office.
Spivey’s sister Jennifer Foley has pushed for answers in her brother’s death, refusing to accept that the shooting of the 33-year-old North Carolina man was in self-defense – a determination originally made by Horry County Police and the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office. The shooting happened on Sept. 9, 2023, in the Longs area.
“The family has only asked for the truth,” Foley said Wednesday. “This family has had to find the truth for themselves. That’s from the beginning all we have ever wanted.”
The shooters have not been charged in the case. Horry County Police closed the case in April, announcing they would not seek prosecution in Spivey’s shooting.
That decision followed the state Attorney General Office’s report that it, too, closed the case, concluding “insufficient evidence to merit criminal prosecution.” The Attorney General’s decision was based on SLED’s investigation.
Mark Tinsley, Foley’s attorney, said they have found “considerable information” during the wrongful death lawsuit and have relayed it to authorities. Some of that includes that eyewitnesses to the shooting who called 911, actually didn’t see what happened the day Spivey was killed.
“It’s a very disappointing investigation,” Tinsley said Wednesday. “Hopefully they are going to look at everything. We’re doing our damndest to bring accountability to this.”
Foley filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2024 against his shooters, Weldon Boyd, a North Myrtle Beach restaurant owner, and Kenneth Williams, a passenger in Boyd’s vehicle.
Boyd has claimed self-defense in the shooting, telling 911 dispatchers that Spivey was waving a gun out his window and that he too had a gun and was prepared to shoot him, according to 911 tapes released.
Boyd did not immediately return a message left Wednesday, and his attorney Ken Moss said he could not comment until he spoke to his client.
The wrongful death suit claims that the Tabor City man also had a reasonable ground to be in fear as Boyd and Williams aggressively chased him, brandished their weapons and eventually killed him after some type of altercation occurred between the men.
It is believed the two men followed Spivey for about nine miles until both vehicles pulled over and the shooting occurred.
However, Foley claims that the investigation into her brother’s death was not conducted correctly and that Boyd’s connections within the Horry County Police Department and government influenced the outcome of the case.
After the shooting, Boyd posted on his personal and Buoys on the Boulevard restaurant Facebook pages a statement regarding the shooting, thanking investigators and the Solicitor’s Office.
Horry County Police did not release either shooter’s name during the investigation. Boyd was only named after 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson asked the Attorney General’s Office to review the case so there wouldn’t be any issues of impropriety, Richardson said previously.
Leonhardt said Wednesday that the county takes such questions seriously and “out of an abundance of caution, and in the pursuit of ensuring the integrity of Horry County Police Department,” he has asked for the case to be reviewed again. “Horry County remains committed to providing transparent and proactive updates when and how possible,” the release said.
In investigative reports by SLED and Horry County Police received through a Freedom of Information Act request, investigators reported that both Boyd and Williams were allowed to remain inside the crime scene during the investigation and that the men’s cell phones were not taken into evidence at the time.
Foley previously said that her brother didn’t know either Boyd or Williams before the deadly exchange of gunfire. The family and law enforcement believe that a road rage incident near the intersection of S.C. 9 and Highway 57 started the sequence of events.
Horry County Police determined that Spivey’s actions of brandishing a weapon and road rage resulted in the exchange of gunfire that erupted along Camp Swamp Road off of S.C. 9, according to the report.
Police interviewed multiple witnesses who all indicated Spivey, who was driving a black truck, was driving erratically and was seen brandishing a weapon, according to the report. One witness said Spivey ran Boyd, who was driving a white truck, off the road, and at one point, Spivey pointed the gun at her.
Five 911 calls released by Horry County Police through a Freedom of Information Act request detail the moments when Spivey was shot and killed during the exchange of gunfire. One of those calls was allegedly from Boyd, who identifies himself as driving a white Ram pickup truck.
The caller says, “I’ve got a guy pointing a gun at me driving. We’re armed as well. He keeps throwing the gun in our faces, acting like he’s about to shoot us. If he keeps this up, I am going to shoot him.”
The caller says, “He’s trying to run from me now. We’re on Highway 9 headed toward Loris.”
In another call, a witness tells the dispatcher that somebody was shot in the middle of the road. “Somebody just unloaded shots through his windshield and shot this guy.”
This story was originally published March 12, 2025 at 2:04 PM.
