Man wanted in killing of 3 in South Carolina found in Jacksonville hotel

Booking photo of Jeffrey Powell (Jacksonville Sheriff's Office hoto)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The suspect in the killing of three people in rural South Carolina hopped on a plane after the shootings and was arrested hours later at a hotel in Jacksonville, authorities said.

A man, woman and 10-year-old girl were killed in the shootings Monday around 3 p.m. inside a Greenwood County home just off U.S. Highway 25, Sheriff Dennis Kelly said.

Recommended Videos



On Tuesday, the Greenwood County Coroner’s Office identified the victims as Randy Grant Perkins, 56, Megan Lee Gale Dinkins, 30, and Shey Nicole Dinkins, according to local news outlets. All were listed as residents of the same Greenwood home.

Another child was also hurt in the shooting, but managed to get out of the home and go to a neighbor who called 911, Kelly told The Index-Journal of Greenwood.

Jeffery David Powell, 36, was arrested at a hotel in Jacksonville, Florida, deputies said in a statement early Tuesday morning. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s website shows he was booked into the Duval County jail about 2 a.m. Tuesday and being held without bond on an out-of-state warrant.

Kelly told the newspaper that Powell flew to Florida on a commercial flight but didn’t give details about how he got to the airport or what led to his arrest.

Deputies were still trying to determine what led to the shooting, Kelly said at a news conference Monday evening.

“There’s a relationship there, but we’re still trying to get some of those details on how they know each other,” the sheriff said.

Powell has a charge of breach of trust of between $2,000 and $10,000 pending in Greenwood County and was convicted of domestic violence in both 2013 and 2014, according to court records.

Deputies did not say if Powell had a lawyer and they did not detail what charges he is facing in the shootings.

The shootings happened in a rural area about 8 miles south of Greenwood and about 50 miles south of Greenville.