United States: Five people charged in murder of Khalil Simmons

Kahlil Simmons was 17. Aiken, South Carolina. The weekend before he died, the family threw his birthday. Basketball. Food. Laughs.

He was weeks from walking early out of high school. Relatives called him the one who fixed the TV, cut the grass, put a thermostat in a hot car in an hour.

His last words to his mother were that he had it — he was taking a friend down the road.

April 13, 2026, about 6:30 p.m. Deputies were called to the 100 block of Goodman Road in Jackson, near Beech Island. Two boys had been shot.

Kahlil was hit in the body and the head. The coroner pronounced him at the scene at 7:13 p.m.

A 16-year-old was taken to a hospital. Dogs and a drone worked the woods. No public motive that night.

Days later came the first wave. After a traffic stop on April 21, deputies charged Jared Grant Marsh II, 18, with murder and possessing a weapon in a violent crime.

Tyler Hans Lariscey, 17, was charged with murder. Both later picked up attempted-murder counts tied to the second victim.

That same stretch, Tarah Alexander, 40, and Bryan Alexander, 40, were charged as accessories after the fact.

A warrant described Tarah as disposing of guns and clothes after being told about the killing.

April 27, a fifth person: a 16-year-old, held in juvenile custody, charged with murder, attempted murder, and a weapon in a violent crime.

That is five people on paper. Three facing the killing itself. Two facing the cover-after.

None of this is a verdict. Charges are allegations until a courtroom says otherwise. The graphic with this post is a yearbook smile over four mugshots.

The fifth face is not there because he is a minor. The picture is not the shooting. There is no released video of the gunfire in this post.

His mother later told people he was a jack of all trades who helped the whole family.

A street filled with blue and candles. That is the boy they are asking a jury to remember while five cases move.