This morning at 4:42am, a motorist discovered a body on U.S. Highway 176 near the intersection of Highway 773. When deputies and investigators arrived on scene, it was apparent that the body was injured in a manner inconsistent and much more severely than that of an automobile collision.
It was then deputies and investigators began to follow a trail of evidence that led them to a mobile home located at 37 Orchard Park Drive in Newberry. Once at the residence, the deputies observed evidence on a pickup truck parked in front of the residence linking the vehicle to the body previously found. A suspect in the residence then ran into the back room of the home and refused to respond to law enforcement officers at the home.
Foster said that they then received intelligence that the suspect was possibly heavily armed inside the residence so members of the Sheriff's Office Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) and the State Law Enforcement Division SWAT team responded to the scene. The two teams tried unsuccessfully for about three hours to have the suspect to surrender, when it was finally decided to make entry into the residence.
Officers fired tear gas into the residence and after a few moments, the suspect came out of the residence and surrendered to law enforcement without incident. While the suspect did not have any weapons on him when he was
arrested, Foster did say that the suspect had an empty pistol
holster on his side when he was arrested.
The suspect has been identified as Gregory Ashton Collins, 19, of 37 Orchard Park Trail, Newberry,. Collins was arrested and charged with murder and additional charges will be filed. Collins has no prior criminal record.
The victim has not yet been identified so any motive or links are not possible at this time.
Investigators from the Newberry County Sheriff's Office and State Law Enforcement Division are still on scene processing evidence and gathering information about the crime.
Additional details will be released at a later time.
If you have any information about this case, please contact the Newberry
County Sheriff's Office at (803) 321-2222 or www.newberrycountysheriff.com.
You can also contact Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CrimeSC,
www.sccrimestoppers.com or text your tip to "TIPSC plus your message" to
CRIMES (274637).
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