Coroner: Warrenville man who killed girlfriend dies from self-inflicted injuries

Date: June 05, 2022

The man accused of killing the mother of his children Friday in Warrenville has died.

John Williams II died Sunday from injuries suffered when he shot himself after the murder of his girlfriend, 34-year-old Lacey Toole, authorities said. Coroner Darryl Ables said Williams died around lunchtime Sunday and his office was notified around 3 p.m. Sunday.

The shooting occurred around 7:45 p.m. Friday on Pelzer Street in Warrenville. Deputies responded to a call of shots fired at the home and found Toole in the front yard of the home suffering from a gunshot wound. The shooter was found on the front porch of the home also suffering from a gunshot wound.

Both were transported to Augusta University Medical Center where Toole died from her injuries and was pronounced dead shortly after midnight. He was in critical condition but died Sunday.

“The investigation has determined following a domestic incident between Ms. Toole and her boyfriend, Ms. Toole was shot by her boyfriend who then turned a gun on himself,” Coroner Daryl Ables said. “Ms. Toole will be autopsied in Newberry Monday morning. The Coroner’s office and the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office are continuing with the investigation.”

An autopsy will be conducted on Toole’s body on Monday, while Williams will not be autopsied, the coroner said.

Greg Rickabaugh is the Jail Report contributor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at greg.rickabaugh@theaugustapress.com 

What to Read Next

The Author

Greg Rickabaugh is an award-winning crime reporter in the Augusta-Aiken area with experience writing for The Augusta Chronicle and serving as publisher of The Jail Report. He also owns AugustaCrime.com. Rickabaugh is a 1994 graduate of the University of South Carolina and has appeared on several crime documentaries on the Investigation Discovery channel. He is married with two daughters.

Comment Policy

The Augusta Press encourages and welcomes reader comments; however, we request this be done in a respectful manner, and we retain the discretion to determine which comments violate our comment policy. We also reserve the right to hide, remove and/or not allow your comments to be posted.

The types of comments not allowed on our site include:

  • Threats of harm or violence
  • Profanity, obscenity, or vulgarity, including images of or links to such material
  • Racist comments
  • Victim shaming and/or blaming
  • Name calling and/or personal attacks;
  • Comments whose main purpose are to sell a product or promote commercial websites or services;
  • Comments that infringe on copyrights;
  • Spam comments, such as the same comment posted repeatedly on a profile.