A 17-year-old is under arrest and a retired Marine is dead after a round the teen allegedly fired from a handgun in the direction of a road sign struck the Marine in the chest as he sat on his porch on Oct. 10.
Eason Reid Gravley, of South Carolina, turned himself in to the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 13, The State newspaper reported, and has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and possession of a handgun.
Gravley was released on a $25,000 recognizance bond and placed on a curfew, the report said. Under South Carolina law, he can face up to five years in prison for the involuntary manslaughter charge.
The victim, 48-year-old retired Maj. Joe D. Black Jr., was struck in the chest after the round “passed through or by the road sign,” then traveled through a wooded area adjacent to the Marine’s house, investigators reported.
Black, who was prior enlisted, retired in 2015 after 20 years in the Marine Corps.
The former aviation maintenance officer will be buried on Oct. 20 with full military honors in his hometown of Greenwood, South Carolina.
He leaves behind a wife and four children.
Jon Simkins is the executive editor for Military Times and Defense News, and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War.
