Suspects charged with Summerton robbery led SC Highway Patrol on 80-mile chase

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Four suspects charged last week for their alleged involvement in a Feb. 1 armed robbery at a Summerton store face even more serious charges in other parts of the state. Clarendon County Sheriff Tim Baxley said that 20-year-old Malik Juwan Gadist, 20-year-old Paul Anthony Walker, 27-year-old D’angelo Antonio Coakley and 26-year-old Julius Hamilton Washington were charged Thursday with kidnapping, armed robbery and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. “The armed robbery committed by these individuals in Clarendon County occurred Feb. 1 at the Dollar General Store at 30 S. Church St. in Summerton,” Baxley said in a release. “The Summerton incident is similar to multiple incidents which have occurred recently in other South Carolina jurisdictions.” The foursome was arrested Feb. 11 after an armed robbery in North Carolina ended with a high-speed chase and an exchange of gunfire with South Carolina state troopers. According to The State newspaper, Walker, Gadist, Coakley and Washington fled a Waxhaw, North Carolina, robbery in a Toyota Camry that was eventually pursued by the South Carolina Highway Patrol down Interstate 77 late Feb. 10. Richland County Sheriff's deputies were notified by troopers of the ongoing pursuit about 10 p.m. as the chase continued from Lexington into Richland County. Shortly afterward, the vehicle wrecked into a median on Killian Road. During the car chase, the suspects had repeatedly fired shots from the Camry at the trailing troopers, according to incident reports. The four suspects fled the vehicle on foot after the wreck, and Walker was arrested first in the early morning hours of Feb. 11. Gadist and Washington were arrested shortly thereafter at the Comfort Inn hotel on Bush River Road. Coakley was arrested later that day, though reports do not indicate where and when exactly. Another suspect, Sandra Ray Mack, 27, was charged in Richland County for allegedly aiding the suspects. She faces specific charges of obstruction of justice, accessory after the fact to attempted murder and accessory after the face to armed robbery. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said the four male suspects allegedly held up a business in Waxhaw before leading troopers on a high-speed chase for nearly 80 miles from Union County, North Carolina, to Richland County. "These are suspects in multiple armed robberies in South Carolina and North Carolina, including in Columbia and Charleston and Summerton," said Lott. "Some very dangerous individuals were safely apprehended with these arrests." Washington was given a $50,000 bond at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County, while Mack received a $250,000 bond. Gadist was denied bond and is being held at the Fairfield County Detention Center. Bond information for Walker and Coakley was not available at press time.