Manslaughter charge follows deadly dispute

William Richard Kelly Schultz
By DEUCE NIVEN
tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com
A “verbal altercation” escalated into a deadly fight Monday night resulting in a manslaughter arrest near Loris on Tuesday.
William Richard Kelly Schultz, 34, of Quartermaster Drive south of Loris was charged Tuesday afternoon, booked at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center without bond, jail records show.
Schultz is charged in the death of Steven Davis, 62. Horry County Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard identified Davis, who died at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center in Myrtle Beach of injuries sustained in the altercation, Willard said.
Officers responding to the assault call about 10 p.m. Monday found Davis “unconscious and severely beaten,” Horry County Police Department spokeswoman Mikayla Moskov said in a news release.
A complaining witness, whose name was redacted from an HCPD report, told officers that Davis and Schultz had argued, and that during the argument Davis “produced a firearm,” and that Schultz “disarmed the victim, and began to physically assault him,” the report said.
Schultz “provoked the argument,” the warrant for his arrest said. When Davis produced a handgun, Schultz “lunged at the victim,” the warrant said, “knocking the gun out of his hands and onto the ground, also knocking the victim to the ground.
“The defendant then proceeded to beat the victim about the face and body for an extended period, until the victim was unconscious.”
Look for more on this story in tomorrow’s Tabor-Loris Tribune in print and online.