GREENVILLE, S.C. — A South Carolina courtroom turned into a battle zone Thursday after a judge denied bond to a 20-year-old man accused of gunning down a father of two during a fight inside a car.
James Emanuel Waiters III was hauled before the court on murder and weapons charges in the early-morning slaying of 23-year-old Joselito Billy Leopard Rivera along Saluda Dam Road.
Rivera’s devastated sister made an emotional plea to keep the suspect locked up, telling the judge it “wasn’t right” that her brother was taken from his two young children.“I just want to say I feel like it was wrong for him to take my brother’s life. My brother may have problems or whatever, but that’s not right,” she said in court.
“He’s a father to two children that won’t have him no more. I lost my brother, my momma lost her son... I don’t feel like he should get bond. I feel like he should stay in here because I feel like he knew what he was doing.”The judge agreed — and that’s when the chaos exploded.
Friends and family of the suspect erupted in anger. What began as heated arguments quickly escalated into pushing, shoving, yelling and a full-blown brawl that spilled from the courtroom into the lobby and then the parking lot outside the Greenville County Detention Center.
Deputies rushed in to break up the melee as screams echoed and tempers flared.
Shocking video shot by FOX Carolina captured the pandemonium, including one woman in the crowd wearing a black T-shirt that boldly declared: “I IDENTIFY AS A PROBLEM.”The jaw-dropping outburst came just hours after the deadly shooting.
Deputies say around 2:30 a.m. Thursday, gunfire erupted near a home on Saluda Dam Road. A nearby deputy heard the shots and pulled over a vehicle fleeing the scene. Inside, investigators found evidence tying the occupants to the homicide.
Waiters, a passenger in the car, allegedly shot and killed Rivera following an altercation while the two were riding together. The driver was not charged.
Rivera’s body was later found along the road. He leaves behind two children.
Waiters remains behind bars with no bond as he faces murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime charges.
The wild courtroom scenes, complete with the unforgettable T-shirt, have already gone viral online, leaving viewers stunned by the raw emotion and disorder that followed the tragic killing.
