The Colleton County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to investigate the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old man on October 10 in the Johnsville area of Smoaks. The sheriff’s office issued the following update on the investigation:
Deputies initially responded to a call of an individual who had been shot at an undisclosed location and then driven to a family residence. Colleton County Fire Rescue transported the injured man to Colleton Medical Center where he eventually succumbed to his injuries.
A second caller reporting damage to a vehicle from gunfire eventually led to the discovery of the primary crime scene, located at a remote intersection off Drain Road. The caller stated that his vehicle was struck by gunfire from the woods line. However, he was unable to identify any suspects.
CCSO investigators, assisted by agents from SLED’s Crime Scene Unit, processed the primary crime scene well into the next morning. Additional evidence was collected and processed in the week following the shooting. In total, a substantial amount of evidence was collected from the primary scene and subsequent secondary scenes. This evidence is still being processed. Thus far, the collected evidence has revealed the following:
The caller, whose vehicle was struck by gunfire from multiple unidentified assailants in the wood line, did return fire from his vehicle. However, the caller’s projectiles did not strike any of the assailants. The deceased 17-year-old man was reportedly one of at least three assailants that ambushed the caller. The deceased man was struck multiple times, allegedly by projectiles fired from one or more of the co-conspirators in the ambush.
On October 24, investigators received information from several citizens concerned that the caller’s family is being targeted over the death of the 17-year-old suspect from Oct. 10. The information was preceded by two drive-by shootings in the Smoaks area. Citizens reported a suspicious vehicle that was seen around a residence. The vehicle was observed at least three times on Saturday and, at one point, even parked outside a residence on the dead-end road.
Around 11 p.m., investigators located the suspicious vehicle at a bar nearby. Inside the vehicle, investigators observed three handguns and one rifle. Two of the weapons were reported stolen and two of the weapons reportedly matched the calibers of spent casings recovered from Friday night’s drive-by shootings in Smoaks. The vehicle owner and operator, identified as Joshua Kareem Dubois, was arrested for possession of a stolen pistol, receiving stolen goods, and possession of crack cocaine. All four weapons and ammunition were seized for comparison to evidence from the other incidents.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact investigators with the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office at 843-549-2211 or Crime Stoppers.
