James Rodricus Dawkins, 19, and his brother, Gary Haskelly Dawkins, 17, both of 152 Sunny Acres Road, Union, are charged by the Gaffney Police Department with assault and battery with intent to kill. The warrants for their arrest state on Tuesday night they shot and wounded a man in the vicinity of Serene Drive and Wilkinsville Highway in the City of Gaffney.
The incident report states an officer dispatched to the scene around 10:30 p.m. found a man standing by the victim waving his arms and yelling for the officer to stop. The man told the officer he had heard a single gunshot and came out and heard the victim yelling. The officer then asked the victim what happened and, according the report, the victim said “Gary Dawkins’ brother shot me.”
The report states the victim then started saying “Hurry up, I can’t feel my legs” and began vomiting. The officer then asked the victim what kind of vehicle his attacker was driving and he said a dark vehicle. By that time, the report states the fire department and EMS had arrived and the officer was unable to question the victim further. The victim was taken to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center where he underwent surgery and is now in intensive care.
The victim’s mother then arrived and told the officer her son had just left their house about 10 minutes before the shooting. She described the vehicle her son’s attacker was in as a black Chevy four-door.
The officer was then advised that Cherokee County deputies had been in contact with the Dawkins brothers at 118 Kraft St. about an hour before the incident. Lt. Ronald Ramsey, head of the Gaffney Police Department’s Detectives Division, said the victim’s younger brother had accompanied the Dawkins brothers to Kraft where they were reportedly planning to buy something.
Ramsey said the the Dawkins brothers have given conflicting stories about what they were planning to buy. He said Gary said it was a PlayStation while James said it was a gun. Either way, Ramsey said the victim’s younger brother took their money and disappeared with it. He said they were not going to leave the house until they got their money and apparently someone inside called the sheriff’s office in a bid to get them to leave.
Ramsey said the Dawkins brothers then went to the victim’s house in an attempt to find his younger brother and get their money back. He said they asked the victim to go with them to look for his brother and he rode around with them trying to find his brother but they were unsuccessful. Ramsey said at that point, James became upset and took the victim’s cell phone as he was attempting to call his brother.
He then told the victim he would not get the phone back until he got his money. The victim then took his phone back and got out of the car. Ramsey said James, who was the driver, then got out and came around the vehicle and shot the victim in the back. Then he and Gary drove away.
The Victim’s younger brother has not yet been interviewed by authorities.
The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office reported the Dawkins brothers were in a black Chevy with a Chevy logo on the driver’s door and a Pepsi logo on the rear door on the driver’s side. A be-on-the-lookout alert was issued for the vehicle which was reportedly heading back to the Dawnkins’ Sunny Acres residence in Union.
The report states the Union County Sheriff’s Office later notified Gaffney the vehicle had been located at the Sunny Acres residence.
The weapon believed used in the shooting was located by Union County sheriff’s deputies and Ramsey during a search of the Dawkins home early Wednesday morning. The incident report states they found an SKS 7.62 MM GP Wars assault rifle in the trunk of a blue 1986 Chevy Caprice parked in the driveway at the Dawkins house. The rifle, which the report states is believed to be fully automatic, was found along with a 30-round magazine. Ramsey added a box of .45 caliber ammunition was also found in the car. He said the ammunition was the same caliber and manufacture as the shell casing recovered at the scene.
The Dawkins brothers were not at home at the time of the search. Ramsey said they called someone to pick them up after they got home. Information about the incident and their alleged involvement was released and people who knew them made contact with them and convinced them to turn themselves in at the Union Public Safety Department the following day.
Ramsey said the two were taken to Gaffney where they had a bond hearing today. He said their bond was set at $100,000 each and they remained in jail as of Thursday afternoon.
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