Anthony Heyward II, 35, known as A.J., was a respected youth football coach and father in North Charleston. On the afternoon of October 15, 2022, police were called to a Scarsdale Avenue home for a burglary in progress. Several children waved officers down from a second-floor landing and said their father had been shot. Heyward was found on a sofa with gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene; the Coroner determined he died from those injuries.

Heyward’s death had a deep impact on the community and the North Charleston Raiders announced they would finish the season in his honor. The North Charleston Police Department opened an investigation, and on November 8, 2022, 18-year-old Haasawn Omarie Belin was arrested at a Rivers Avenue motel and charged with murder, armed robbery with a deadly weapon, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, and four counts of kidnapping. Belin was taken into custody at the Al Cannon Detention Center and the case was moving through the legal system as of November 2022.

If anyone who knew Anthony Heyward II or has information about the events of October 15, 2022, can help, please come forward.