A man from Lexington was given 40 years in prison for shooting and killing his neighbor after a fight over a small amount of money turned into a storm of gunfire that killed the man.
The 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office says that Christopher David Shumpert was found guilty of killing Barry Joe Chavis, Jr. on Fish Hatchery Road in Gaston in 2020 and given a sentence of 40 years in prison without parole.
“This senseless, cowardly, and brutal murder has destroyed the lives and families of three young people,” said the prosecutor, Deputy Solicitor Rhonda W. Patterson. At the time of his death, Chavis was 28 years old. His obituary said that he was a very hard worker and a certified engine mechanic who loved to work on dirt bikes and four-wheelers.
Shumpert, who is 22 years old, was sentenced on Friday after a Lexington County jury found him guilty of murder. Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said the murder was caused by “a long-running disagreement,” which witnesses said had been going on for a long time.
He also got 20 years in prison for assault and battery and five years for having a gun while committing a violent crime.
Tensions between Shumpert and Chavis reached a peak on March 27, 2020.
Shumpert Had a 9mm Handgun With Him
Shumpert, who was 19 at the time, and his co-defendant Daniel Taylor Jones, who was 18 at the time, went to Chavis’ house in the 3600 block of Fish Hatchery Road to talk to him and another person who was not named.
Shumpert had a 9mm handgun with him when he got there, and Jones had a powerful one.300 Blackout rifle. Koon says that the two men “kept arguing.” After a short fight, police say Shumpert and Jones opened fire on Chavis, who wasn’t carrying a gun.
Chavis was shot with twenty-one bullets. When two of them hit him in the back, he died right away. He died in front of his house.
The tweet below confirms the news:
Christopher David Shumpert was convicted of gunning down Barry Joe Chavis, Jr. in the victim’s front yard in Gaston. https://t.co/HpmLn3uSos
— The State Newspaper (@thestate) April 1, 2023
The other person with Chavis lived even though he was shot in both the leg and the stomach.
The sheriff’s office says that Shumpert was taken into custody at a hotel in Aiken and Jones was taken into custody at his home in Gaston.
Jones is still being charged with murder, attempted murder, and being in possession of a weapon.
Patterson and assistant solicitor Bradley Pogue worked together to bring the case to court. Sgt. Michael “Joe” Hart of the Lexington County Sheriff’s Office was in charge of the investigation. He had help from the office’s Major Crimes Unit, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and the Aiken County Sheriff’s Department.
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