Tourists will see changes after violent crime rocked downtown Myrtle Beach in 2025
A string of high-profile violent crimes made headlines in Myrtle Beach in 2025, sparking both temporary and long-term changes to city policing.
As tourist season approaches in just a few short months, visitors to Myrtle Beach will see some changes when it comes to public safety, following a spring and summer of shootings and robberies.
Public safety also dominated debates and discussions during the Myrtle Beach mayoral race, which ended with Mark Kruea ousting incumbent candidate Brenda Bethune.
Bethune and Myrtle Beach Police Chief Amy Prock were criticized for how the city handled some of the crimes, including scrutiny regarding transparency and public outreach following a major shooting event in the spring.
Here’s how these events changed the direction of public safety in the city.
Downtown crime drives Myrtle Beach public safety conversation
A deadly shooting in April involving 18-year-old Jerrius Davis, who was shot and killed by police, set a somber tone as the weather warmed and tourists began to flock to the Grand Strand. Davis was visiting Myrtle Beach from Bennettsville when he allegedly shot into the crowd on Ocean Boulevard.
The shooting resulted in 11 injuries in addition to the teen’s death, and sparked a months-long investigation into the officer’s involvement.
The incident led to calls from the public for increased transparency from law enforcement, as well as concerns about youth crime and downtown safety.
The next month, four young adults, ages 19 to 21, were arrested on more than five charges following a string of armed robberies in popular Myrtle Beach tourist areas. These charges included carjacking and kidnapping in addition to armed robbery.
Like Davis, the young adults involved in these crimes were also visiting from outside the area — a fact that local law enforcement officials emphasized in statements following the arrests. Three of those arrested were from Columbia, while the fourth was from Lexington, Kentucky.
Traci Chanaca, captain of investigations for Myrtle Beach Police, called the incidents part of a “troubling trend” of young people visiting the city and committing crimes in a video statement.
Another fatal shooting occurred in downtown Myrtle Beach in June, in the same popular tourist stretch where Davis was killed just months before — and this time, the young people involved were locals.
The shooting took place inside the popular restaurant Peaches Corner on Ocean Boulevard, and involved a 17-year-old employee of the restaurant, Evony McCray, who shot and killed 18-year-old Grayson Meyers, a Myrtle Beach resident. McCray is from Conway.
McCray was arrested for the shooting and later admitted to firing the shots that killed Meyers. Police did not confirm whether Meyers also had a weapon.
Summer of Myrtle Beach crimes leads to change
Following the Peaches Corner shooting, the city adopted a temporary change, which was eventually made permanent, to its juvenile curfew ahead of the Fourth of July weekend — a popular time for tourist visits.
The new curfew barred minors from the downtown area and other city-run spaces from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. unless they met certain exemptions.
City officials acknowledged that the earlier curfew would not fix all the city’s youth crime issues. For example, the April mass shooting involved a legal adult, and the Peaches Corner shooting involved a teen who was at work and therefore exempt from the curfew, though both shootings took place late at night.
When the curfew was first enacted, law enforcement officials stated that the police department aimed for voluntary compliance, particularly by maintaining a visible police force downtown. While this did not mean a drastic increase in the number of officers downtown, the Myrtle Beach Police Department has made efforts to increase their visibility in the public eye, even starting their own webcast.
The Myrtle Beach Police Department launched its “Fridays on the Front” video series on Facebook in July, after the rash of violent crimes downtown. The series features officers discussing cases they worked on in the city, typically with the bright lights of the downtown tourist strip as a backdrop.
Myrtle Beach Police Lt. Allen Amick previously told The Sun News that the department’s transparency efforts feed into its primary focuses of “visibility, community engagement and proactive enforcement.”
As Spring Break approaches once more, Myrtle Beach Police spokesperson Randolph Angotti said in an email to The Sun News that the city is continuing to evaluate its response plan. As increases in traffic and tourist populations in the city lead to increases in some kinds of crime, Angotti said the city plans to deploy its resources “as needed and directly.”
“This will include proactive policing with increased manpower, traffic safety points and enforcement, and public education and communication of our state laws, and city ordinances,” Angotti wrote.
