A 24-year-old Columbia man has been identified as the victim of a fatal shooting and crash that unfolded near the Colony Apartments complex on Bailey Street on Saturday. William Anderson IV was found behind the wheel of a car that had slammed into a building roughly a third of a mile from the apartment complex, suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.
The Richland County Coroner's Office identified Anderson as the victim, according to The State. Richland County Sheriff's Department deputies were the first to respond after hearing gunfire from a nearby parking lot, and they found the crashed vehicle in the 6300 block of Bailey Street, between S.C. 277 and Beltline Boulevard. Deputies provided emergency medical assistance, including CPR, before Anderson was transported by EMS to Prisma Health Richland Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No other injuries were reported in connection with the shooting.
Columbia Police Take Over the Investigation
While Richland County deputies were first on scene, lead jurisdiction over the homicide investigation belongs to the Columbia Police Department's Criminal Investigations Bureau, according to WLTX. Police have worked to conduct interviews, review evidence, and establish a timeline of events, but they have not yet determined who fired the shots, how many people were involved, or what sparked the gunfire, per the same report. Police and the coroner's office are continuing to investigate the case as a homicide.
Investigators have not said whether Anderson was shot while still parked or while driving, and it is not clear whether ShotSpotter was involved in this shooting. ShotSpotter is designed to detect suspected gunfire and alert police, including when no 911 call is made. The technology was cited in connection with the May 2024 Taylor case, according to the City of Columbia Police Department.
A Complex With a Violent History
Colony Apartments, a Project-Based Section 8 family housing community spanning the Bailey Street and West Beltline Boulevard area, is managed by the Denver-based Monroe Group and features two-bedroom units across a fenced, garden-style layout, per the Monroe Group. The property has been the site of repeated gun violence in recent years. In January 2025, 23-year-old Blake A. McGrath was shot and killed on the complex grounds, according to the Richland County Coroner's Office, which publicly identified him at the time.
In May 2024, 23-year-old Marquicas D. Taylor was shot and killed at Colony Apartments in the 6400 block of Bailey Street, an incident that led to the arrest of a 20-year-old suspect on murder charges by Columbia Police and federal marshals, according to the City of Columbia Police Department. And in December 2022, a 23-year-old woman was fatally shot in the complex's parking lot; court records indicated that shooting occurred within 35 seconds of her arrival at the property. The gunman later pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 30 years in prison in May 2025, according to the Fifth Judicial Circuit Solicitor's Office.
A Corridor Already Reeling From Gun Violence
Just days before Anderson's death, a 3-year-old boy died on September 3 after inadvertently shooting himself with an unsecured gun inside an apartment in the 3100 block of Bailey Street. The child's uncle was later arrested after fleeing the scene with the firearm, according to WLTX, underscoring an intense concentration of firearm incidents along the Bailey Street corridor in quick succession. Hoodline previously reported on two overnight Columbia shootings earlier this month, as well as the fatal shooting of a 29-year-old Columbia police officer in late August.
Countywide, Richland County homicides had fallen from 37 in 2022 to 27 in 2023, a decline the sheriff's department attributed to increased deputy patrols and community engagement, per WLTX. Law enforcement officials have emphasized that community tips remain critical to sustaining that progress, even as isolated corridors like Bailey Street continue to see repeated violence. South Carolina's March 2024 permitless carry law, which allows gun owners 18 and older to carry handguns without a state permit or mandatory safety training, has also reshaped how agencies in Richland and Lexington counties approach enforcement, according to the Post and Courier.
How to Report Information
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact Midlands Crime Stoppers at 888-CRIME-SC or through the P3 Tips app. Tipsters can remain anonymous under state program guidelines and may still be eligible for a cash reward if their information leads to an arrest.
