20-yo gets 50 yrs for killing 3 during gun buy

GREENWOOD, SC (FOX Carolina) – A judge has sentenced a Greenwood man to 50 years in prison for three murders that took place in Abbeville County in 2019.

8th Circuit Solicitor David M. Stumbo said that the sentence came down after Elijah Ty Rez Head, 20, pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, and one count of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime during a plea hearing Friday morning at the Greenwood County Courthouse.

Circuit Judge Donald Hocker sentenced Head to 50 years in prison on each of the three murder charges, 25 years in prison on the attempted murder charge, and five year in prison on the weapon charge. All of the sentences will be served concurrently and Head will not be eligible for parole. 

In July 2019, Stumbo said Head went to an apartment in Abbeville to trade or buy guns from 25-year-old Johntavier Moss and 26-year-old Steven Tinch, but the prosecution had evidence that Head had intended to rob the two men all along. At some point during their meeting, a dispute occurred and Head pulled out a gun. He then shot and killed Tinch and 62-year-old Shirley Jones, the grandmother of both Tinch and Moss. Head shot Moss at least once as well, but then fled and returned four minutes later to shoot Moss five more times while he was on the phone with 911. Head also shot another 24-year-old man who had entered the apartment to help the victims.

“That man survived his six gunshot wounds and was able to identify Head for investigators,” Stumbo said in a news release.

Law enforcement was able to track Head down one day later, hiding out at a motel on Highway 221 in Greenwood, where he was taken into custody.

“This was such a senseless taking of human life,” Solicitor Stumbo said following the sentencing. “While nothing can truly dull the pain of loss that they have suffered, we are glad that the families of our victims could come to the courtroom today to watch the killer of their loved ones convicted and sent off to prison for the essentially the rest of his life. I hope that this also continues to send a clear message to our community that we will fight with every tool the law makes available to us to keep our families safe.”

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