A week after a Va. teen was killed in Myrtle Beach, police say a suspect is in custody (2024)

MYRTLE BEACH — Police have arrested a suspect in the July 20 shooting of a Virginia teenagerwho was killed at a beach access while he was in town for a basketball tournament.

Gary Abraham, an 18-year-old from Aiken, faces a murder charge, three counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to a July 28 Facebook post from the Myrtle Beach Police Department. He was scheduled to have a bond hearing at 3 p.m.

Few details have been released about the case since authorities announced that 16-year-old Jakolbi Taylor had been shot around 1:10 a.m. July 20 at the 16th Avenue North beach access. Taylor died at the scene.

A basketball standout fromRoanoke, Va., Taylor had been playing in a Myrtle Beach tournament.

In the wake of his death, friends and family sought answers and promoted the hashtag #justiceforkolbi on social media.

Taylor's funeral was held July 27 at Patrick Henry High Schoolwhere he had been a star point guard. The Roanoke Times reported that more than 1,000 people attended the service.

Mourners in the school's gym wept as they passed the casket, which also held a jersey bearing Taylor's No. 0.

During the service, which was streamed on Facebook, friends and family described an intense competitor who scored 43 points in his final game. They tried to find solace in Taylor's favorite Bible verse, Romans 8:28: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

“He wants us to go on," Taylor's aunt, Gail Thompson, said. "It’s hard. It’s very hard. But his favorite scripture is the same as mine, ‘All things work together.’ It doesn’t look like it, but he knew something, that they do work together for the good.”

Christian Kirchman, one of Taylor's basketball coaches, described Taylor as a rare talent, the kind of player he would guard in practice with coach and player constantly challenging each other.

“He was like my little brother,”Kirchman said. “We talked about any and everything. The team used to joke, 'Kolbi tell coach everything.' But that was just the bond that we had.”

Kirchman emphasized that Taylor made a positive impact on those around him.

“Ball in peace,” he said.

As he eulogized Taylor,Bishop J.L. Jackson spoke about the need for justice, a common refrain in the service. Jackson mentioned that he had pastor friends in Myrtle Beach and connections with the NAACP there. The unsolved nature of the case loomed large.

“I told them, ‘Make some noise until we can hear you in Roanoke,” he said. “How dare y’all let that happen in Myrtle Beach. If it were in Virginia, you would want us to do something about it, so y’all make sure you do something about it down there. Enough is enough. We’ve done this too many times. And there are too many families that still don’t have justice.”

Within hours of the funeral's conclusion, police announced that a suspect was in custody. Investigators are asking anyone with information about the case to call the Myrtle Beach Police Department at 843-918-1382.