SC solicitor impanels grand jury in Scott Spivey shooting death. What we know
A South Carolina prosecutor asked by the state Attorney General’s Office to review the fatal shooting of Scott Spivey has convened a grand jury to review his findings.
Barry Barnette, the 7th Circuit solicitor in Spartanburg County, impaneled a grand jury involving the Horry County Police Department and its investigation into the shooting death of the 33-year-old North Carolina man, according to an email Tuesday from Amy Goulding with the 7th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Information on why a grand jury was convened or what will be presented was not released.
Barnette was asked by Attorney General Alan Wilson to review the shooting death of Spivey, who was shot and killed by Weldon Boyd, a North Myrtle Beach businessman, and his friend Kenneth “Bradley” Williams along Camp Swamp Road in the Longs area on Sept. 9, 2023.
Barnette is not a special prosecutor in the case, the Attorney General’s Office said previously. Instead, he was asked to review the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s investigation into the HCPD’s handling of Spivey’s case after allegations of police misconduct.
The attorney general’s letter to Barnette stated that the office had already reviewed the case and declined to charge the two men involved, citing the state’s Stand Your Ground law.
Neither Boyd nor Williams were charged in the case after the Attorney General’s Office ruled that the men shot and killed Spivey in self-defense.
Boyd and Williams shot and killed the Tabor City man after what appears to be a road rage incident that began on Highway 17 and ended on Camp Swamp Road.
Allegations of police misconduct
The letter asked Barnette to make any prosecutorial decisions regarding potential misconduct in Spivey‘s death.
The Attorney General’s Office was asked to review the case after Horry County Solicitor Jimmy Richardson recused himself from the case. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division also reviewed the case that was initially investigated by the Horry County Police department.
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 Boyd.
At least five HCPD officers - including one who resigned and another terminated for their roles in the case - have been accused of misconduct. Three officers were disciplined after seven videos of officers’ dash cam footage from the night of the shooting was discovered. The footage was said to be mislabeled.
The involved officers were part of HCPD’s internal investigation of the Spivey case. It comes after 90 audio recordings and hundreds of text messages from Boyd, who owns Buoys on the Boulevard restaurant, and officer body cam footage showed that Boyd was allegedly getting preferential treatment because of his relationship with officers on the force.
Family files wrongful death lawsuit
The family has since filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the two men. The suit is currently awaiting a Stand Your Ground hearing on Feb. 17 in Horry County, which will determine whether or not the case can move forward.
Wilson has been criticized for his office’s decision to not charge Boyd and Williams. In a December 2025 podcast with his cousin, Alan Wilson spoke about the 2023 shooting death, stating that Spivey was the initial aggressor and had he survived he would have been charged.
“At that roadside, had Mr. Spivey not been shot and survived, he would have been the one charged with a felony, for driving under the influence and brandishing a firearm,” Wilson said. “That is the facts. Unfortunately, he was killed.”
This story was originally published February 3, 2026 at 4:33 PM.
