News

Hendersonville native shot to death at party

Kyle Shirlin

By Bill Moss, Published: August 22, 2016

A 19-year-old man who grew up in Hendersonville and graduated from Hendersonville High School, was shot to death at a party early Sunday at Goose Creek, S.C., authorities said.

Kyle Shirlin, the son of Karen and Dave Shirlin, was shot to death at a party that had drawn a large crowd of 75 to 80 young people, a police report said. Goose Creek police officers responding to a report of a gunshot saw people running from the house when they arrived. No arrests have been made, although police obtained a description of the shooter.
Berkeley County Coroner Bill Salisbury told WCIC-TV that Shirlin was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:55 a.m. An autopsy was scheduled to be performed today.

After graduating from Hendersonville High School in 2015, Shirlin moved to Charleston.

According to an incident report filed by the first officer on the scene, several people in their early 20s and late teens "were hurriedly departing the area and getting into vehicles" parked near the residence when the two officers arrived. "None of the individuals responded for any of my hails to them," the officer wrote.

The occupant of the home where the shooting happened, 46-year-old Reginald Middleton, met the two officers when they arrived and told them that someone had been shot in the backyard. The officers found Shirlin's body on the ground with a gunshot wound to his chest.

A witness told the officers that "two black males with dreadlocks were trying to get Shirlin's backpack but he shouted at them to leave him alone and that the police were coming." The two men left. Police got a description of a man witnesses identified as the shooter. Officers posted at the exits of the Cherry Hill subdivision obtained the identities of 28 people who left the party.

Another man who was at the party, Chavon Simmons, told investigators that he and Shirlin worked together as valets at a Hyatt Hotel in Charleston and "Shirlin did not know anyone in the local area." Shirlin learned of the party through him, Simmons told the officers.

The Goose Creek police department asked that anyone with information on the shooting contact Investigator Powell at (843) 863-5200 ext. 2356 or Crimestoppers at (843) 554-1111.