A South Carolina man will spend at least a year in prison for his part in the killing of 17-year-old Aryan Jaswal, a Charlotte teenager who was shot multiple times inside a vehicle at a Ballantyne West apartment complex in August 2024. Tyquan Paige was sentenced after prosecutors said he was among a group of people who robbed and killed Jaswal, though investigators determined he did not pull the trigger himself.
Paige was charged with accessory to murder and robbery, and a judge handed down the sentence this week, according to WSOC-TV. Investigators concluded Paige did not fire the murder weapon, even though prosecutors say he was present when the group robbed and killed Jaswal on Wynhollow Road in South Charlotte. Officers had found Jaswal shot multiple times inside a vehicle around 8 a.m. on August 13, 2024, at an apartment complex in the 14000 block of Wynhollow Downs Lane, a Ballantyne West community that police described as typically very quiet, according to WCNC.
A Case That Crossed State Lines
Two others were also arrested in connection with the case in Conway, South Carolina. Hoodline previously reported that a 16-year-old was arrested and charged with murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon in October 2024, marking the first major break in the investigation two months after the shooting. An adult co-defendant, 20-year-old Jaylon Reaves, was arrested in January 2025 in Mullins, South Carolina, by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the Marion County Sheriff's Office on charges of murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and conspiracy, per the City of Charlotte.
Bringing the suspects back to North Carolina required coordination across multiple agencies. CMPD's Violent Criminal Apprehension Team worked with South Carolina authorities in Horry and Marion counties to execute arrest warrants before extraditing Paige and Reaves, according to the City of Charlotte. Jaswal, who had previously attended Camden Military Academy and Fusion Academy Charlotte, was 17 when he was killed, according to background compiled by the National Gun Violence Memorial.
Public Anger Over Bond Terms
Paige's case drew significant public scrutiny well before his sentencing. A $100,000 secured bond issued for Paige in June 2025 at the Mecklenburg County Courthouse sparked outrage, prompting local crime-victim advocates to organize a statewide advocacy day in Raleigh to lobby for tougher sentencing laws targeting violent youth offenders and their accomplices, WCNC reported at the time. The frustration reflected broader community concerns over how the justice system handles young defendants tied to homicide cases.
Jaswal's death came during a year when Charlotte was grappling with a dramatic rise in youth-involved violence. CMPD reported a 300% year-over-year increase in homicides committed by juvenile suspects during the first six months of 2024, with 12 young people arrested for murder in that span. Citywide, homicides rose 25% in 2024 to 111 total, even as overall violent crime dropped 3%, according to WFAE.
City's Response to Youth Violence
In response to the surge, CMPD created the Juvenile Accountability Diversion and Empowerment team in 2024 to conduct home visits and deliver targeted interventions for repeat juvenile offenders and at-risk families. More recent data suggests the trend may be stabilizing: CMPD's midyear 2026 figures showed an 8% drop in violent crime and a 16% reduction in overall crime citywide, with homicides holding roughly flat at 40 reported cases compared to 39 at the same point in 2025.
Still, for Jaswal's family and the Ballantyne West community, those citywide numbers offer little comfort. The shooting remains a stark reminder of how a robbery scheme involving teenagers and young adults ended a 17-year-old's life in a neighborhood where such violence is rare.
