Aiken authorities have made an arrest in the Memorial Day murder of a Graniteville teen.
Jaden Mitchell, 18, was charged Tuesday with murder in the shooting death of 19-year-old Amari Williams. The suspect was previously expelled from Aiken County schools before transferring to Greenwood High School last fall and getting expelled there after attending classes for four days.
The murder victim was shot May 29 while inside a car in Aiken with his fiancée. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. The victim’s fiancée, Cesilie Weathrford, had told authorities that she was in the car with Williams when the shooting happened on Redd Street near Tennessee Avenue in Aiken. She said they had dropped off her son off with his father and bumped into a nephew. They decided to meet him at the park on Redd Street.
“We were waiting for them as a car came up and (fired) into the car, shooting my fiancé in the head,” she said on a GoFundMe page.
The victim’s mother, Courtney Davis, said she believed the gunfire was meant for someone else. She has been told about the suspect’s arrest.
“Thank God,” Davis said Tuesday.
Mitchell has been charged with murder, two counts of attempted murder and three counts of weapon possession. He has been booked into the Aiken County Detention Center.
Background on suspect. Mitchell is the same teen who was previously expelled from the Aiken County School District, according to court records. He then enrolled as a tenth grader at Greenwood High School last fall. After attending school for just four days, the teen was arrested following an outbreak of several fights at the Greenwood Jamboree, a district-sponsored event. He was then expelled from their district.
The fights led to 23 arrests and the cancellation of the Jamboree.
