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Mia Denise Tabb

Age : 28

Gender : Female

Race : Black

Date : 08/15/2023

Location : Barrell House Grille, Robertson Boulevard

City : Walterboro

County : Colleton

State : South Carolina

Agency : Hampton County Sheriff’s Office; Walterboro Police Department

Officer(s) :Tamika Suewanna Carter

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by off-duty SRO officer and another person

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/15/2023, at approximately 10:45 p.m., 28-year-old Mia Tabb became involved in an argument with Tamika Suewanna Carter and Marvis Jermaine Williams inside the Barrell House Grille on Robertson Boulevard in Walterboro. The argument continued in the restaurant parking lot. Carter was then employed as a Hampton County Sheriff’s Office deputy and school resource officer, although available reports do not indicate that she was on duty or acting in an official capacity during the confrontation.
Walterboro police said Carter and Williams entered a vehicle and one of them fired a single gunshot from inside it, striking Tabb while she stood in the parking lot. Other reporting and the later prosecution identified Williams as the person who fired the fatal shot. Someone transported Tabb in a private vehicle to Colleton Medical Center. Medical personnel arranged to transfer her to Trident Medical Center, but she died while being transported to the trauma center.
Carter left the scene and failed to cooperate with the police investigation. Hampton County Sheriff’s Office records state that she resigned on 08/16/2023 in lieu of being terminated. The agency cited her failure to cooperate with investigators and her departure from the shooting scene.
Walterboro police used surveillance footage to identify Carter and Williams. Carter surrendered on 08/23/2023. Police charged her with murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Contemporary reports gave conflicting ages for Carter, identifying her as 43, 46, or 47. Later court reporting identified her as 49 in 2025.
Williams remained at large for approximately five weeks before police arrested him on 09/25/2023. A Colleton County jury convicted Williams of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime on 12/17/2025. The court sentenced him to 30 years in prison for killing Tabb.
The prosecution established that Williams fired the shot that killed Tabb. Carter remained separately charged with murder as of the December 2025 prosecution announcement. No reliable public record located through August 2026 establishes that Carter has been tried, convicted, acquitted, sentenced, or had her charges dismissed. No civil lawsuit or financial settlement involving Tabb’s death was located. Restaurant surveillance footage existed and helped police identify Carter and Williams, but no complete public release of that footage was located.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.wsav.com/news/local-news/south-carolina-news/former-deputy-charged-in-deadly-colleton-county-shooting/
https://www.live5news.com/2023/08/23/former-deputy-charged-one-large-deadly-walterboro-restaurant-shooting/
https://abcnews4.com/news/local/former-hampton-county-officer-among-two-charged-in-fatal-barrel-house-grille-shooting-wciv-crime-news
https://www.live5news.com/2023/09/26/second-suspect-arrested-deadly-walterboro-restaurant-shooting/
https://scsolicitor14.org/yemassee-man-convicted-of-murder-in-restaurant-parking-lot/
https://abcnews4.com/news/crime-news/yemassee-man-sentenced-to-30-years-for-2023-murder-at-walterboro-restaurant-crime-fourteenth-judicial-circuit-marvis-jermaine-williams-barrell-house-grille-roberston-boulevard
https://www.wjcl.com/article/marvis-jermaine-williams-murder-walterboro/69809348