“It’s unreal”: Coroner responds to rapid rise in homicides in Sumter County

Robbie Baker says there have been 17 murders in Sumter County in the last 13 months

SUMTER COUNTY, S.C. (WOLO) —Sumter County deputies are searching for a suspect involved in the death investigation of a 23-year-old whose body was found on New Year’s Day.

Deputies say Deontae Jackson, 20, will be charged with murder of Montrell Epps once he is taken into custody. Deputies believe Jackson to be armed and dangerous.

With two homicide victims already in Sumter County this year, Sumter County Coroner Robbie Baker says this is just part of a growing trend of gun violence in his county.

“We’ve had 17 homicides in the last 13 months in Sumter County. That’s unreal,” 

A Sumter County deputy found Epps’s body off of McCrays Mill Road back on New Year’s Day.

Less than three weeks later, the body of Antwan Dukes, 17, was discovered off of Wilder Street.

Even though he says every murder is different, Baker says these last two have really hit home.

“I think about my kids when they were in high school, and God forbid if someone had to knock on my door and tell me that my 17-year-old daughter or 17-year-old son was dead, and there’s nothing you can tell them that makes them feel any better, and you feel their pain when you leave there,” Baker said. 

With murder victims tending to get younger and younger in Sumter County, Baker says the best way to prevent these types of crimes is to reach and teach the children early that gun violence is not the answer.

“I think a lot of this starts at home, it starts with the churches, and then I think the schools need to do a better job of maybe introducing coroners and law enforcement into their schools to sit down and talk with this young crowd and reach them and talk with them now and let them know this stuff is real. It’s not a video game. This young loss of life, it’s got to stop,” said Baker.

If you have any information on either the location of Jackson or whom could be involved in the death of Dukes, call the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office or Crimestoppers at 1-888-CRIME SC.