A Spartanburg, S.C. man is in a Burke County jail after being arrested for an armed robbery, but the arrest led to details of another crime.
On Monday, James Douglas Drayton, 24, was arrested for an armed robbery at Taylor Brothers Express on Highway 25 N.
“During our investigation of the robbery and Drayton, we learned that he was a suspect in the mass
murder of 5 individuals that occurred on October 9th, 2022 at a home on Bobo Street in Inman, South Carolina,” according to a press release from the Burke County Sheriff’s Office. “Investigators from the Spartanburg Sheriff’s Office traveled to our county where they interviewed Drayton and received a full confession to the mass murder of the 5 individuals in Inman, S.C.”
Spartanburg County deputies and emergency workers were called to a home Sunday where they found the victims with gunshot wounds, Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said in a statement, according to an Associated Press report.
Four people died at the scene and a fifth died in surgery at the hospital, authorities said.
All five people killed appeared to be adults, weren’t related to each other and were found in different parts of the home, the coroner said.
Spartanburg County deputies said they won’t release any additional information on the shooting until the coroner has identified the people killed and notified their families.
Clevenger said his office is performing autopsies and trying to identify the victims on Monday.
The home where the bodies were found is about 10 miles northwest of Spartanburg,.
Spartanburg law enforcement has obtained three arrest warrants for murder and are working on additional warrants “once they have completed the identification of the remaining victims and notification of their families,” Capt. Jimmy Wylds of the Burke County Sheriff’s Office said.
