Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott announces the arrest of two 17 year-olds in the killing of an 18 year-old last week.
17 year-old D’Mari Flannigan (DOB: 12/03/2003) and 17 year-old Javienn Coates (DOB: 08/06/2003) are each charged with Murder and will be charged as adults.
The charges stem from an incident on the evening of Thursday, May 27. Deputies were called to the 1000 block of Frasier Street just before 6 p.m. in reference to a suspicious vehicle. They arrived to find a vehicle with several bullet holes in the driver’s side door and a man, now identified as 18-year-old John Kelly, unresponsive in the driver’s seat. Kelly was pronounced deceased on the scene.
The investigation has revealed that Kelly, Flannigan and Coates met up in the 1200 block of Walcott Street for suspected criminal activity. That’s when both males fired shots into Kelly’s vehicle, hitting him. They then moved Kelly’s vehicle, with him inside, to a different location less than a mile away on Frasier Street.
Flannigan was arrested in the early morning of May 29 and Coates was arrested on the afternoon of June 1.
Sheriff Lott would like to thank the community for their tips and cooperation which helped bring a quick resolution to this case.
“We say it all the time – if you see something, say something – and they did. These communities don’t want crime in their neighborhoods. They’re doing what we ask them to do and it’s working,” Sheriff Lott said.
Flannigan and Coates were both booked in the juvenile wing of the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.