Could Horry County deadly shooting be considered Stand Your Ground under SC law?
Videos of a deadly shooting Jan. 6, 2026, along Highway 90 show the two men who had just been involved in an accident in a heated exchange, repeatedly taunting one another and threatening the other to get out of their face.
The argument continues to escalate between Paul Greenwood and Elijaih Taylor before Taylor issues a final ultimatum, “You’ve got one more f***in’ time to get in my face.” Greenwood, who responds, “I’ve got one more time?”, then walks toward Taylor, who pulls a gun from his waistband and fires between four to five shots at Greenwood. Greenwood dies at the scene.
While it’s clear that Taylor, who has been charged with murder by Horry County Police, fired at Greenwood, the question being debated, could his actions fall under South Carolina’s Stand Your Ground law.
South Carolina’s Protection of Persons and Property Act, often referred to as the “Stand Your Ground” law, allows people to use force, including deadly force, to protect themselves against a perceived threat. South Carolina’s law specifically eliminated the duty to retreat when a person is somewhere they have a right to be.
Horry County Solicitor Jimmy Richardson has seen Tuesday’s shooting video and believes that the suspect will ask for a Stand Your Ground hearing.
If the defense does ask for Stand Your Ground, one thing that will be considered by a judge is who is the primary aggressor, “you walked toward me, you moved toward me ... are those actions reasonable?” Richardson said. “What was going on at the time is going to make a difference.”
Stand Your Ground has become a popular defense in deadly force cases in recent years, Richardson said. “It has become a lot more of a problem,” he said about prosecuting murder cases.
The law is at the center of a shooting death of a North Carolina man along a Horry County roadway in 2023. The case has made national attention after the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office ruled the shooting as self-defense under the Stand Your Ground law.
Weldon Boyd, a North Myrtle Beach restaurant owner, and his friend Kenneth “Bradley” Williams shot and killed 33-year-old Scott Spivey after what police said started as a road rage incident and before a gun fight broke out.
Neither Boyd nor Williams have been charged in the case. Spivey’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2024 and a Stand Your Ground hearing in the suit is set for February.
If a judge rules that their actions qualify under the act, they would be granted immunity from any future criminal charges related to the shooting, as well as the civil case, which would be dismissed.
Richardson also expects another deadly shooting that occurred in June in Myrtle Beach will become a Stand Your Ground defense. In that case, an employee of Peaches Corner shot and killed a person after an altercation inside the restaurant.
The Solicitor’s Office is also appealing a judge’s ruling granting Stand Your Ground in a 2020 murder case involving a deadly shooting in the Surfside Beach area. Witnesses in that case said the shooter, Anijah Robert Yarnell, believed he was under attack at the time of the shooting.
Videos were used as evidence in murder charge
The videos of the shooting that happened along Highway 90 were recorded by a witness who was also involved in the three-vehicle accident that appears to have been caused by Taylor.
The witness told The Sun News that her vehicle and another car, a Honda Civic, were hit by Greenwood, the driver of a white pickup truck. Taylor, the driver of the Honda, allegedly became upset, and got into a heated exchange with Greenwood.
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The argument escalated, and Taylor shot and killed Greenwood, 33, of Nichols, police reports say.
Taylor, 23, was arrested by Horry County Police and faces charges of murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to online arrest records.
The videos, which show various clips of Greenwood and Taylor arguing before the shooting, were used by police as evidence in Taylor’s arrest.
A verbal altercation between two men also was the impetus for a deadly shooting that occurred this summer at Peaches Corner, located in Myrtle Beach’s tourist district.
Richardson expects that “we will probably have a Stand Your Ground hearing (in that case) at some point too,” he said.
A 17-year-old employee of the restaurant, Evony McCray, of Conway, was charged with murder in the shooting. Grayson Meyers, 18, of Myrtle Beach, was shot several times, according to police.
McCray admitted to shooting Meyers, the police report states. However, details such as why the two men were in an argument or why Meyers was at the restaurant, have not been released.
Solicitor says there are issues with Stand Your Ground
Every case is different, Richardson said.
But Richardson and other officials say there are issues with the Persons and Property Act since it was implemented in 2006.
“It has become a lot more of a problem,” Richardson said. “We have to fight these (Stand Your Ground) cases over and over.”
One of those cases involves Anijah Yarnell, who was charged with murder in the shooting death of Michael W. Pennington III, 33, in an apartment parking lot in Surfside Beach.
A judge ruled in 2023 that Yarnell acted in self-defense when he shot and killed Pennington, granting Yarnell’s motion for immunity.
It was reported that Yarnell shot at Pennington after he allegedly approached Yarnell’s vehicle and tried to get inside through a partially-rolled down window. Yarnell remained in his vehicle during the argument and shooting, court records say.
The Horry County Solicitor’s Office appealed the ruling, stating that “with the windows up and the guy being unarmed, it shouldn’t be Stand Your Ground,” Richardson said. “We looked at the facts and said that is not reasonable to believe you are in reasonable fear.”
The appeal is pending.
Judge to determine if actions warranted in Scott Spivey case
Richardson wouldn’t comment on the Spivey case. Richardson said he has not reviewed the file since he recused himself from the case.
The Attorney General’s Office was asked to review the case after Richardson recused himself. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division also reviewed the case that was initially investigated by the Horry County Police department.
Richardson previously said that because Boyd posted on Facebook a statement thanking police and the Solicitor’s Office for their hard work, he asked for the review to prevent any issues of impropriety.
Spivey’s family raised several concerns about HCPD’s handling of the case and alleged misconduct by officers, many of them who were friends with one of the shooters, Weldon Boyd.
Horry County Police determined that Spivey’s actions of brandishing a weapon, which included aiming a gun at Boyd and Williams, and road rage resulted in the exchange of gun fire.
At the center of the case is Boyd and Williams’ actions on Sept. 9, 2023, that led to the shooting. Police said that Boyd followed Spivey for nine miles along Highway 9 before the fatal shooting occurred. Police reports show the confrontation first began when Spivey was driving erratically, waving his gun outside his truck window and pointing his gun at Boyd and Williams.
Boyd called 911, telling the dispatcher that “if he keeps this up, I’m going to shoot him.” The two men followed Spivey until he pulled off onto Camp Swamp Road, where Boyd and Williams claim he got out of his truck and shot at them before they returned fire.
Spivey was found dead from a gunshot wound in his vehicle.
Proposed bill asking for Stand Your Ground law to be altered
Because of the national and statewide attention the Scott Spivey case is receiving, state and local leaders believe it could lead to a reevaluation of South Carolina’s self-defense law.
However, one proposed amendment, if approved, may not benefit prosecutors when dealing with such cases.
A bill introduced into the South Carolina legislature in 2024 seeks to amend the Stand Your Ground law in the use of deadly force against another person. The bill seeks to shift the burden of proof to the state to prove that immunity is inapplicable when a defendant asks for immunity in a pretrial hearing under Stand Your Ground.
The change could make it more challenging for prosecutors to proceed with criminal charges in cases where a defendant claims self-defense, potentially providing stronger legal protections for individuals who use force in what they believe to be self-defense situations.
The bill is currently in the House Judiciary Committee.
