On the evening of November 23, 2024, 35-year-old Travis Desmond Rouse was brought to Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital in Sumter with a gunshot wound to his upper torso and later pronounced dead. Initial reports did not identify where the shooting occurred, but investigators later traced the incident to a residence on Utah Circle.

Authorities say Rouse and another man, Xavier Daichaun Bennett, were recklessly pointing handguns at one another when Bennett’s firearm discharged, striking Rouse. Bennett drove Rouse to the hospital and then left; Rouse died of his injuries. The Sumter Police Department and the Sumter County Coroner’s Office treated the case as a homicide, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division took the lead.

On December 13, 2024, Bennett — who was already in the Sumter County detention center on an unrelated family court charge when the warrant was served — was charged with involuntary manslaughter and denied bond. The investigation concluded the shooting was the unintentional result of mishandling a firearm during a reckless act. If anyone has information about what happened on Utah Circle that night, contact investigators.