A Spartanburg County homeowner shot and killed a 19-year-old stranger early Sunday after the young man entered the family's home on Cherokee Circle in Chesnee, deputies say. The coroner's office identified the victim as Xavier Felix Rivera-Goucher of Goodjoin Road in Campobello, pronouncing him dead at the scene at approximately 2:21 a.m.
Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a reported shooting at the home in the Cherokee Springs and Mayo-Chesnee area early Sunday, according to WYFF4. When deputies arrived, they found one person dead from multiple gunshot wounds, along with two other people who lived at the home. Deputies said the homeowner encountered Rivera-Goucher inside the residence and opened fire, killing him.
Investigators determined that Rivera-Goucher entered the home during the early morning hours, though the station reports that no one living there knew him. The circumstances of how or why the 19-year-old came to be inside the house remain part of an active and ongoing investigation, and authorities have not filed charges against anyone in connection with the shooting, per the same account.
Coroner Schedules Forensic Exam to Confirm Cause of Death
The Spartanburg County Coroner's Office has scheduled a forensic examination for Monday to determine the official cause and manner of Rivera-Goucher's death, according to Malarkey_News. The exam is expected to clarify details about the shooting that investigators have not yet made public.
Campobello, where Rivera-Goucher lived, and Chesnee, where he died, are neighboring rural municipalities within Spartanburg County, South Carolina's fifth-largest county with a population of nearly 328,000 residents, according to OneSpartanburg, Inc.
Why No Charges Have Been Filed
No charges have been filed against the homeowner, and South Carolina's self-defense laws help explain why. Under South Carolina Code Section 16-11-440(A), part of the state's Protection of Persons and Property Act, a legal resident is presumed to have a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily injury when using deadly force against someone who has unlawfully and forcibly entered an occupied residence, according to Justia Law.
The same statute, found in S.C. Code § 16-11-450, grants statutory immunity from criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits to individuals whose use of force is determined to be justified self-defense, according to David R. Price Jr., P.A. That immunity provision is often why prosecutors hold off on filing charges while investigators continue gathering facts. South Carolina's self-defense framework also removes any legal duty to retreat for someone lawfully present inside their own home before using deadly force against an intruder, according to Giffords Law Center.
Part of a Pattern in Northern Spartanburg County
The shooting adds to a string of violent incidents that Spartanburg County deputies have responded to in northern parts of the county in recent weeks, including an August shooting in nearby Inman. Even so, statewide numbers point the other direction: data from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division shows the state's violent crime rate fell 8.4% from 2023 to 2024, reaching its lowest level since 1995, with homicides dropping 15.8% to 413 murders statewide, as reported by FITSNews.
SLED Chief Mark Keel noted in the agency's 2024 crime report that 41% of all weapon law violation arrestees in South Carolina — 3,974 out of 9,612 offenders — were under 25 years old, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. For now, the Sheriff's Office investigation into Rivera-Goucher's death remains active, with no charges filed and no public explanation yet for why the 19-year-old ended up inside a home where, investigators say, nobody knew him.
