A 26-year-old South Carolina wife and mother of two young children was murdered by a stranger after a short argument at a grocery store parking lot. The children were sitting in the car when their mother was shot in the back and killed.
Alexandria Cress Borys was apparently loading her groceries into the vehicle when a situation escalated with her alleged killer, 23-year-old Christina Harrison, pulled out an illegally-carried weapon and shot her from behind, Fox News reported.
“Unfortunately, this is a situation where tempers flared, and someone let anger get the best of them. One rash decision has impacted the lives of two families and countless others who witnessed this tragic event.” Irmo Police Chief Bobby Dale said on Facebook shortly after the shooting. “Senseless is the only word I can think of to describe what happened today.”
Neither Fox News nor the police have reported on what led to the initial interaction or what the argument that led to the fatal shooting was about. The two women did not know one another.
Fox was able to report that while the alleged shooter fled the scene of the crime, she eventually turned herself in later the same day. Fox also noted she has been charged with murder, among other crimes.
Harrison initially fled from the parking lot but called to turn herself in around 5:30 p.m. She was booked into the Lexington County Detention Center Tuesday night.
Jail records show Harrison is charged with murder, unlawfully carrying a pistol and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
In a sad twist, it appears that Alexandria’s death comes less than a week after her youngest brother also died of a gunshot wound. It was unclear how he was killed.
South Carolina does allow for the death penalty. In 2021, it became the fourth state in the nation to allow inmates on death row to elect to die by firing squad. The two other methods on the books at the time were electrocution and lethal injection, but the latter continued facing impediments.
CNN wrote at the time:
The potential change in South Carolina law comes as states nationwide have hit barriers executing those on death row due to problems administering lethal injections, the widely preferred method in the US. Difficulties finding the required drugs have essentially paused executions in many states including South Carolina, which has not had an execution since 2011.
Lethal injection and electrocution are the two current choices given to a death row inmate in South Carolina, and if an inmate picks lethal injection, the state has been unable to move forward with the execution.
It is unclear if the accused would be eligible for the death penalty for this heinous crime. There are certain. conditions to be met, including murder with another felony commission. In the case of Harrison, it is possible her use of an illegally-carried firearm could present prosecutors with the additional felony required if they were to seek the death penalty for the execution of a mother with two kids trapped inside their car.
Featured image: Tyler Borys, GoFundMe
"*" indicates required fields