Photos: RCSD
BLYTHEWOOD – Three arrests have been made following the teen shootout in Blythewood on April 5. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott held a press conference on April 11 to announce two of the arrests and to give insight into what happened that night when hundreds of teens swarmed the town. A third arrest was made on Thursday, April 17.
“These kids turned Blythewood into a war zone,” Lott said in the press conference on April 11. “It’s only by the grace of God I’m not standing here talking about 20 or 30 kids killed.”
He said the two males arrested were 18-year-old high school students, though the Sheriff’s public information office would not release information to The Voice about where the two were from or which high school they attended.
Darrell Birch, 18, and Nahjere Suber, 18, were arrested and charged with Breach of Peace of a High and Aggravated Nature by RCSD’s Fugitive Task Force and Special Response Team.
“There were kids from Columbia, Camden, Cayce, Blythewood,” he said. “Two hundred of them. We’re going to continue making arrests until everybody that’s responsible is caught.”
Lott said one of teens caught on video was wearing an ankle monitor and was recognized as being out on bond for murder. He also said some of the guns that have been recovered were stolen.
“Over 60 rounds were fired,” Lott said. “This is something you would expect to hear in Iraq or Afghanistan during a war. But this was in Blythewood.”
The Exxon convenience store’s video showed a large group of male and female teens in the store’s parking lot and that at least four of them were brandishing hand guns.
The morning after the shooting, The Voice photographed a bullet hole in a front window of the Exxon convenience store. Other businesses were also damaged by bullets.
Deputies located a female in a vehicle in the IGA parking lot with a bullet wound to her leg.
Lott blamed some of the recent teen disturbances on ‘pop-up parties’ that he said often involve the use of drugs and alcohol, and can get out of control quickly.
“We do what we can, but these are instantaneous,” he said.
He said it’s squarely the responsibility of parents to “keep these kids’ butts where they need to be, instead of running around with a gun at two in the morning.”
Addressing the parents of those involved, Lott told them to contact the police if they know their child was involved.
“If you don’t, then at 4 o’clock in the morning, you’re going to get a knock on your door, and somebody’s going to jail.”
He specifically called out the owner of a black Maserati that was at the scene.
“That parent and that kid who was driving that car need to come in, because we’re going to find you, too. It’s just a matter of time,” Lott said.
He said the community is “sick and tired” of the violence.
“We’ve got to change the minds and hearts of these kids,” he said.
Sheriff Makes Third Arrest
A third arrest has been made in relation to the shooting that occurred in downtown Blythewood on April 5, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s office.
On April 17, 2025, RCSD’s Fugitive Task Force arrested Jamari Nelson, 23, at his residence. At the time of the arrest, investigators located two firearms, one of which is connected to an open investigation out of another agency. Nelson was transported to Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. He is charged with Assault and Battery of a High and Aggravated Nature and Possession of a Weapon during a Violent Crime.
In the statement released by the Sheriff’s department, the Sheriff thanked the parents and their children who have come forward with information. As a result, we have received several tips and investigators were able to identify the suspects connected to the black Maserati that Sheriff Lott discussed in his News Conference on April 11.
The investigation is still ongoing and there may be additional arrests.
