Boyd and Kenneth “Bradley” Williams ask a judge to freeze the Spivey family’s wrongful death suit, saying sources tell them the State Grand Jury is now looking at them, not just at Horry County police. This comes amidst the ongoing Weldon Boyd under SC grand jury investigation appeal from the family of Scott Spivey over the deadly shooting.
Nov 6, 2026 · @https://x.com/myrtlebeachnews
For more than three years, the people at the center of the Scott Spivey case have faced a lawsuit but not a criminal charge. A new court filing suggests that may be about to change, and the filing comes from the defense as the focus shifts to the Weldon Boyd under SC grand jury investigation.
On Thursday, North Myrtle Beach businessman Weldon Boyd, owner of Buoys on the Boulevard, and his friend Kenneth “Bradley” Williams jointly asked a judge to halt the wrongful death lawsuit brought by Spivey’s sister, Jennifer Foley. Their reason: they say they have learned “through sources” that the State Grand Jury has widened its inquiry to cover their own conduct on Sept. 9, 2023, the day Spivey was shot and killed on Camp Swamp Road near Longs [The Sun News, 2026].
Neither man has been charged with a crime. Both have said from the start that they fired in self-defense. Grand jury proceedings in South Carolina are secret, and prosecutors have not confirmed who, or what, the panel is examining in relation to the Weldon Boyd under SC grand jury investigation. But the motion is the clearest sign yet that the people closest to the case believe a criminal decision is coming, and soon.
Here is what the filing says, how we got here, and what it could mean for Horry County.
According to the motion, the grand jury was originally set up to look at how responding Horry County Police officers handled the shooting. Boyd and Williams now say its scope “has been expanded to encompass the conduct of defendants Boyd and Williams.” They point to subpoenas that, the filing says, went out to a number of people who have no tie to the police department or to the officers who responded that night [The Sun News, 2026].
The pair want everything in the civil case paused: discovery, depositions, motion hearings, deadlines and the trial itself. That pause would last until the grand jury finishes and it is formally decided whether either man will be indicted. The civil trial had been expected to start in December [The Sun News, 2026].
The motion also says Foley’s attorney stated on the record that he believes indictments will come before the end of this year. That is the defense’s account of what the family’s lawyer said; it is not a statement from prosecutors [The Sun News, 2026].
The 7th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, which is running the grand jury, is not talking. An assistant solicitor told The Sun News that the office will not comment while the process continues, and the office has pointed to the state law that requires grand jury secrecy [The Sun News, 2026]. Earlier this year, Williams’ attorney, O’Bryan Martin, made the same point to WMBF, describing the proceedings as secret for good reason and noting that little would become public unless an indictment is returned [WMBF News, 2026].
That secrecy matters for readers. The claim that Boyd and Williams are now under the grand jury’s microscope comes from the defense, citing unnamed sources. It has not been confirmed by any prosecutor or court.
To understand why a request like this lands now, it helps to remember how many times this case has been closed and reopened.
Spivey, a 33-year-old from Tabor City, N.C., died after a confrontation that began on S.C. 9 and ended on Camp Swamp Road. In a 911 call that day, Boyd told dispatchers he would shoot Spivey if he kept waving a gun at him, according to recordings released by county police [WBTW, 2023]. Boyd has said Spivey fired first.
Within days, 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson stepped aside and asked the state Attorney General’s Office to take over [WMBF News, 2023]. In April 2024, that office declined to prosecute, citing insufficient evidence [WMBF News, 2026]. Two months later, Foley sued Boyd for wrongful death, with Williams also named [WBTW, 2025].
The lawsuit is what blew the case back open. Through it, the family’s attorney, Mark Tinsley, obtained recordings Boyd had secretly made of calls with Horry County police after the shooting, including calls with his close friend, then-Deputy Chief Brandon Strickland. In those calls, Strickland talked about working behind the scenes, and Boyd was told he had been “taken care of,” according to The Post and Courier [Post and Courier, 2026].
The fallout inside the department was swift. Strickland resigned on March 11, 2025, the same week county police asked SLED to reopen the case, and Sgt. Paul Damon Vescovi was fired on April 30, 2025, after an internal affairs review [Post and Courier, 2026]. An internal investigation also found seven dashcam videos from the night of the shooting had been mishandled and mislabeled [WMBF News, 2026]. Strickland’s attorney has denied the misconduct allegations [WBTW, 2025].
In October 2025, Attorney General Alan Wilson asked 7th Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette, based in Spartanburg, to review the investigation [WMBF News, 2026]. In February 2026, Barnette’s office confirmed it had impaneled the State Grand Jury [WMBF News, 2026; ABC News 4, 2026].
The most important event of 2026 may have been the one that kept the grand jury alive.
In February, Boyd and Williams sought immunity under South Carolina’s “stand your ground” law in a four-day hearing in the civil case. Because the law grants immunity from both civil liability and criminal prosecution, a win for Boyd would have effectively ended any criminal exposure, and WMBF reported the grand jury would have been dismissed [WMBF News, 2026].
It didn’t go that way. Circuit Judge Eugene Griffith Jr. denied Boyd immunity, saying from the bench that he seriously questioned Boyd’s credibility [Post and Courier, 2026]. Williams was later denied immunity as well [WIS, 2026]. Both men asked the judge to reconsider, and those motions were still pending as of summer [WMBF News, 2026].
The months since have been combative. SLED agents searched Boyd’s home and restaurant on June 8; his attorney, Kenneth Moss, said Boyd handed over keys and codes and was fully cooperating, while Martin said the warrants were described as part of the grand jury’s probe into the police department [Post and Courier, 2026]. Boyd filed, then withdrew, a motion asking Griffith to step aside [WMBF News, 2026]. A separate lawsuit Boyd filed against Tinsley was dismissed in June [Post and Courier, 2026]. And in September, the Spivey family filed a federal lawsuit against Horry County and several officers, alleging concealed evidence and coached witnesses; the county said it does not comment on pending litigation [ABC News 4, 2026].
That sequence explains the new motion. With immunity off the table, the grand jury still working and a civil trial weeks away, the defense is staring at a very specific problem.
The notable thing about Thursday’s filing is not that a defendant wants a delay. It is who is making the argument that criminal charges are a real possibility.
In May 2025, Williams sought a stay of the civil case while SLED investigated the police department. Tinsley opposed it, arguing that without any real likelihood of criminal charges against Boyd or Williams, there was no reason to delay [FITSNews, 2025]. Eighteen months later, the defense is effectively conceding that likelihood now exists, and is using it as the basis for its request.
The reason is a familiar bind in civil cases that overlap with criminal investigations. Anything a defendant says under oath in a deposition or at a civil trial can later be used by prosecutors. A defendant can decline to answer by invoking the Fifth Amendment, but in a civil case, a jury may be allowed to draw negative conclusions from that silence. A stay lets a defendant avoid having to choose between those risks until the criminal question is settled. Courts weigh that concern against the plaintiff’s right to move forward, and a family that has waited three years for its day in court will likely argue that it has waited long enough.
There is also a second layer for local readers. This grand jury was born out of questions about the Horry County Police Department, not about Boyd. If the defense’s sources are right and the panel has turned toward the shooters themselves, it suggests prosecutors may be reexamining the core question the Attorney General’s Office answered in 2024: whether a crime was committed on Camp Swamp Road at all. That would be a significant reversal, and it would raise fresh questions about how thoroughly the original investigation was handled.
None of that changes the bottom line. Boyd and Williams are presumed innocent. They have not been indicted. The only public source for the claim that they are under investigation is their own court filing.
For residents, the Spivey case has long been about more than one shooting. It has become a test of whether the county’s police department treats well-connected people differently. Boyd has been described as a well-known supporter of local law enforcement, and allegations in the case center on whether officers close to him shaped the investigation [Post and Courier, 2025; The Sun News, 2026].
The case has already reached the Statehouse. Most of Horry County’s legislative delegation signed a letter urging the governor to reopen it, and Rep. William Bailey introduced a bill to move control of county police to the sheriff [WBTW, 2025]. Whatever the grand jury decides, its findings, whether about officers, the shooters or both, will shape how residents view local policing for years.
Several decisions are now in play:
We will continue to follow the filings and will report any response from the Spivey family’s attorneys and the 7th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Weldon Boyd under SC grand jury investigation – The Sun News (via Yahoo News): Weldon Boyd under SC grand jury investigation for deadly shooting, court filing says
Weldon Boyd under SC grand jury investigation – The Post and Courier: SLED agents search home and business of SC’s Weldon Boyd
Weldon Boyd under SC grand jury investigation – The Post and Courier: Weldon Boyd denied stand-your-ground immunity
Weldon Boyd under SC grand jury investigation – The Post and Courier: Judge dismisses Weldon Boyd’s lawsuit against the Spivey family’s attorney
Weldon Boyd under SC grand jury investigation – The Post and Courier: Grand jury and the civil suit over police conduct
Weldon Boyd under SC grand jury investigation – WMBF News: Solicitor: Grand jury to look over deadly 2023 Horry County road-rage shooting
Weldon Boyd under SC grand jury investigation – WMBF News: Details surrounding grand jury’s review limited
WMBF News: Weldon Boyd asks court to reconsider stand-your-ground immunity denial
WMBF News: Boyd withdraws recusal motion in Spivey lawsuit
ABC News 4 / WPDE: New federal suit claims evidence was concealed, witnesses coached
ABC News 4: Solicitor impanels State Grand Jury
FITSNews: Scott Spivey wrongful death case: delay sought by defendant
WIS: Weldon Boyd admits he followed man killed in Horry County shooting
