Friends, family have questions after fatal police shooting in Horry County
Family and friends of a Longs man killed by a police officer gathered in front of the Horry County courthouse Thursday to press for an investigation into his death.
Tristan Vereen, 33, was shot by a South Carolina Highway Patrol trooper and died at Grand Strand Medical Center about 5 p.m. Saturday, according to Horry County Deputy Coroner Darris Fowler.
“These four kids will be left without a father,” said Elder James Johnson, president of the Racial Justice Network. “No one should have to die because of a cracked windshield.”
Police have not released much information about why the officer used deadly force during the incident.
Law enforcement have said there was a “confrontation” and “struggle” during a traffic stop that injured the officer and left Vereen fatally injured.
The solicitor’s office met with relatives and lawyers prior to the press conference and showed them a video of the altercation taken from a home camera nearby. The video has not been released to the public.
“After watching that video, I believe that he was murdered,” Johnson told media.
Quantrell Jones, who helped organize the press conference, also saw the video and said that it left too much information out.
“The angle that we saw,you can’t see anything and it had no audio,” Jones told The Sun News, adding that he saw Vereen fall after being hit with a taser but most of the altercation happened off camera.
Jimmy Richardson, Horry County’s Solicitor, could not be reached for comment.
What we know
A highway patrol trooper was patrolling on S.C. 905 near S.C. 22 when he tried to perform a traffic stop for an equipment violation just after 3:45 p.m., but the car sped away.
There was a short chase and Vereen crashed his car into a utility building in a yard near McNeil Chapel Road, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety.
Vereen then exited the vehicle trying to get away, followed by the officer, SCDPS stated in a news release. When the trooper attempted to place Vereen under arrest, a “struggle ensued” and the trooper shot Vereen, the news release said.
Authorities have not said if Vereen was armed but did confirm that the officer was not shot.
Master Trooper W.B. Benton is the state trooper who shot Vereen.
Benton was also injured in the shooting and taken to the hospital. The type and extent of his injuries are unclear and non-life-threatening.
He has been released from the hospital and had surgery on Tuesday, according to Kelley Hughes, a captain with SCDPS. He declined to comment when asked by a Sun News reporter about Benton’s condition. The trooper has been placed on paid-administrative leave, standard agency protocol following an officer-involved shooting, pending the outcome of a SLED investigation.
Benton is assigned to Troop 5, whose coverage area includes Horry County. He has been with the South Carolina Highway Patrol since 2010.
SLED Investigation
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division conducts investigations after police shootings at the request of the agency involved in the incident.
In a news release sent to media the night of the shooting SLED announced that a SCHP trooper shot Vereen during a ”confrontation” while conducting a traffic stop.
SLED will conduct interviews with all potential witnesses and collect all relevant evidence and will forensically test such evidence as needed, a SLED press release stated.
The incident in Horry County was the 28th officer involved shooting in South Carolina in 2021. In 2020, there were 49 officer involved shootings in South Carolina; two involved the SCHP.
Family and friends speak
Vereen’s father, brother and sister spoke during the press conference, expressing the pain of losing their loved one.
“He’s dead, he’s gone and we will never see him again,” his sister, Marion, said. “His kids will grow up without him, all because he had a cracked windshield, and there’s no justice in that.”
Lawyers for the family spoke as well, saying they felt confident after watching the video.
“It’s a bit unusual for the Solicitor’s Office and SLED to share information with us this quickly,” said Steve Shmutz, a lawyer for the family. “I’m going to take that as a sign they’re going to do the right thing throughout this case.”
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Jenna Farhat contributed reporting to this story.
This story was originally published September 16, 2021 at 1:18 PM.
