In the early morning hours of February 6, 2016, 40-year-old Cecil Gilliam was found on Sharpe Street in Woodruff, South Carolina, suffering multiple gunshot wounds. He had been shot seven times and later died of his injuries. Police were called to the scene around 4 a.m. after a disturbance involving a weapon was reported.

Investigators quickly focused on a suspect, 32-year-old Adriel N. Garnett. A witness at the scene identified Garnett as the shooter and said he fled in a smoke-grey Camaro with another person. Garnett evaded capture for about five and a half months before being arrested in Columbia in connection with a disorderly conduct incident; he resisted arrest and initially gave a false name.

At a four-day trial Garnett testified the shooting was self-defense. Prosecutors relied on eyewitness accounts, forensic evidence, and law enforcement testimony to argue the number and placement of wounds were inconsistent with self-defense. The jury convicted Garnett of murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime and imposed life without parole. Anyone who knew Cecil Gilliam or saw activity on Sharpe Street that night is asked to share information.