On March 24, 2022, a jury found Deavion Burgess guilty of the murder of Quinton Ventress, guilty of attempted murder of the other passenger in the vehicle at the time of the shooting and guilty of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. A judge sentenced him to life in prison.
BACKGROUND
At around 4:00 p.m. on April 2, 2020, Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the Tiger Express gas station, Sea Island Parkway, St. Helena Island regarding a shooting.
Upon their arrival at the scene, deputies found 26-year-old Quinton Ventress in the passenger seat of a vehicle, unconscious and suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The driver of the vehicle was inside the gas station at the time and an additional passenger in the back seat wasn’t hurt.
At the scene, investigators located multiple cartridge casings and learned there was video surveillance footage of the subject arriving and departing in a white Nissan Sentra, which was driven by someone else.
In addition, the video footage captured the subject walking towards the gas station and then firing multiple shots into the vehicle Ventress was located in.
Ventress was taken to Beaufort Memorial Hospital initially and was later flown to the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) for treatment of life-threatening gunshot wounds.
Ventress remained hospitalized in critical condition at MUSC, where he succumbed to his wounds months later.
A forensic autopsy would confirm that Ventress died as a result of the gunshot wounds he sustained during the April 2 incident; his manner of death was ruled homicide.
In hopes of identifying the subject responsible and to gain more information, the Sheriff’s Office published a NIXLE advisory.
As a result of the advisory, the Sheriff’s Office received information regarding the white Nissan the subject was in at the time of the shooting and his identity.
While interviewing the driver of the Nissan, investigators learned the subject went by the nickname “Ghost” or “G.”
When asked about the shooting itself, the driver said the radio in the vehicle was playing loudly when “Ghost” or “G” exited the vehicle. The driver advised when “Ghost” or “G” returned to the vehicle he said something to the effect of, “They shouldn’t have shot at my momma’s house; I just snapped.”
Investigators learned “Ghost” or “G’s” true identity was 20-year-old Deavion Burgess of St. Helena Island and the driver positively identified him as the subject who shot Ventress.
In the months that followed the incident, investigators completed numerous interviews and reviewed evidence in the case.
In June 2020, investigators met with a Beaufort County magistrate and obtained warrants for Burgess’s arrest for two counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
10 days after the arrest warrants were issued, Burgess turned himself in at the Beaufort County Detention Center.
The attempted murder charge for Quinton Ventress was upgraded to murder when Ventress succumbed to his wounds.
On March 24, 2022, a jury found Deavion Burgess guilty of the murder of Quinton Ventress, guilty of attempted murder of the other passenger in the vehicle at the time of the shooting and guilty of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. A judge sentenced him to life in prison.
Thank you to the lead investigator on this case Daniel Duhamel, other members of our Investigations Division, our Forensic Services Laboratory, Northern Enforcement Branch deputies who responded to the scene that day and Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor’s Office’s Assistant Solicitor Trasi Campbell for your work in making our community safer.
