Camp Swamp Road Ep. 1: Mess Around, Find Out

0:00A word of warning. This series contains descriptions of violence and strong language, including unbleep curse words. Please be advised.

0:179-1-1, OKCV, emergency. Hey, I've got a guy pointing a gun at me driving. We're armed as well. He keeps throwing the gun in our faces. I don't like he's about to shoot us. If he keeps this up, I'm going to shoot him. Where are you at? I'm on Highway 9. He's trying to run from me now. It was around 5.50 p.m. on a Saturday, September 9th, 2023. A man calls 911 about a reckless driver. A reckless driver with a gun. This dude shoots at me. We're going to put him down. I mean, this dude's insane. As he heads down the highway, the man describes what he sees. He tells the dispatcher that he's taking pictures out the window.

1:02I've got pictures of him aiming the gun at us, everything. he's about to put the gun out again. Sir, this guy aims that gun at me, we're gonna have to shoot him. The man making this call is Weldon Boyd. He's 32 years old and owns a popular restaurant nearby. That day, Boyd was driving with his friend Bradley Williams. The two were heading up to Boyd's farm to drop off a fan and some lawn furniture. Boyd wanted his mother to be able to sit outside in the late summer heat. Did it start with a road rage at some point? Did he just pull up next to you? I didn't do it. I was talking to my friend. We're trailering couches.

1:42And this dude just—my buddy's like, what the fuck? And he's got a gun aimed at us next to us. Boyd seems convinced that this man is going to hurt somebody. He and Williams have been following the guy with the gun for several miles. I need a—I need a trooper fast. Y 'all—and he may shoot at the cop, too, man. Tell the cops we're in a white Ram pickup truck, and we are armed. I'm military, so it ain't us. Don't shoot us. But this dude's fucking nuts. The guy with the gun suddenly turns off the highway. Boyd says he's going to keep after him. All right, so he's turning on to Camp Swamp Road. What road?

2:26Camp Swamp Road.

2:31I've been to Camp Swamp Road many times over the course of the last year. It's a two-lane country road surrounded by farmland. There wouldn't be any reason for me to be there, except for what happened next. He's stopping. He's stopping. Hey, we're about to have a fucking shootout, dude. This dude's got a gun. He's got a fucking gun. Do you have an address where he stopped at?

2:59I can't put it in gear

3:06Are you guys shooting?

3:13Hello?

3:19Hello?

3:24Hello? In those few seconds, dozens of bullets were fired on Camp Swamp Road, and a man was killed.

3:36This shooting took place in South Carolina, one of 28 states with Stand Your Ground laws. These laws allow someone to kill a person if they are in fear for their life. And Stand Your Ground would be applied in this case. That essentially meant that it wasn't fully investigated, like a murder. because this killing wasn't considered a crime. In stand-your-ground cases, the roles of victim and perpetrator can be flipped. The killer is considered the victim, making the dead person the perpetrator. In many cases, the only one who can account for what happened is the person who survives. In America, there are hundreds of stand-your-ground killings every year, and most of them fly under the radar.

4:20They almost never make it to trial. But this case on Camp Swamp Road is different. It could have been quickly dealt with as a standard ground killing case closed. But it wasn't. Because of a few very important factors. One man's decision to record all of his phone calls. A police cover-up. And one sister's determination to take on the investigation herself. Learning everything she could about her brother's death.

4:50I'm Valerie Warline, and this is Camp Swamp Road. A series from the Journal.

5:01Coming up, episode one. Mess around, find out.

5:23911, was that just emergency? Uh, yeah. Something doesn't look right over on Camp Swamp Road, off of Highway 9, Morris. Soon after the shooting, other 911 calls come in. I just pulled off their own camp, their own swamp. Oh, my God, I'm so sorry. We're at the corner of Highway 9 and Camp Swamp. The gunshots, road rage, white pickup truck, two white men. I am at the corner of Camp Twomp Road, and somebody just unloaded, shot through his windshield, and stopped this guy.

6:10Okay, can you hear us the best known locations so far? The best known location so far, I've gotten a couple of things in here saying that both vehicles are on Camp Swamp Road. I'm not sure how far. What you're about to hear is based on police records, 911 calls, and hours of body cam and dash cam recordings.

6:34The first officer to arrive is Carrie Higgs. Camp Swamp and I, and I'm here.

6:47Camp Swamp Road is in Horry County, South Carolina. The late summer air is heavy when Higgs rolls up. Higgs sees two trucks. One is black. The driver's door is flung open. The other truck is white with a trailer attached. Next to the white truck are two white men. Both have beards. Both are wearing ball caps. The bigger guy is Bradley Williams. The smaller guy is Weldon Boyd. Boyd rushes towards the officer, waving his arms. What's going on? I had to shoot him. He... All right, give me a second. They saw everything. He held a gun to us on the interstate. He ran us off the road. He was calling him?

7:27We were calling. I was taking pictures of his license plate. When I turned in here, he got out of that truck, had his pistol. He racked it, aimed, and shocked. Me and Bradley started shooting back. I mean, I can't. He was shooting at us. Why would he do that? I have no idea. Weldon Boyd is firmly telling the officer that the man in the black truck shot at him and his friend, Bradley Williams. So I'm a veteran. I did not do this. I did not. Well, I shot him, but he shot us first. He shot at you? He shot 100 percent. I was trying to back up and get away, and then he started discharging the firearm.

8:04To this day, it's not clear who shot first. Officer Higgs now walks towards the black truck. It's about 25 yards further down Camp Swamp Road. Checking on the other vehicle. Black Chevy, North Carolina plate. Romeo, Charlie, one, five, three, eight. Inside the truck, a white man is slumped over the center console. Higgs reaches in and prods the man's back. Sir. The driver doesn't move. 10-4 is, 1 is definitely 10-7. 10-7 is police code for out of service. Officer Higgs is telling his colleagues that the man in the black truck is dead. Higgs walks over to Boyd. He's pacing back and forth. Good.

8:57Calm down. Listen, listen, listen. I understand. It's self-defense, man. I understand. I just want you to sit down, calm down, take a breather. There's nothing to be sorry about. Just sit down and take a breather, sir. All right?

9:14It's now been about 20 minutes since the shooting, and Weldon Boyd is very clear. He and Bradley Williams shot in self-defense.

9:26The second officer to arrive is Sergeant Damon Viscovi. He's just coming on duty, and he's driving pretty fast to Camp Swamp Road. You dumbass. Viscovi is an experienced officer who's been on the force for over 20 years. When he arrives at the crime scene, it's still pretty chaotic. Witnesses are milling around, and cars are driving through. Get your car out of the way now! It's around 6.30 p.m. Paramedics are now on the scene. They climb into the black truck, noting the gunshot wounds on the driver's body. Just watch what you're touching. Blood covers the front seat and soaks a pair of brown cowboy boots stuffed behind it.

10:12One of the paramedics tells Sergeant Viscovi the name of the dead man. Scott Spivey, the boy laying. Scott Spivey? Yeah, in the table seat. Missing the table? Scott Spivey? Yeah. Wow. Oh, wow. I know him. Scott Spivey. The name hangs in the air as Viscovi tries to look him up on his phone. A few minutes later, Viscovi tells another officer that he knows the dead man. It seems to be bothering him. Well, you know what's weird? I know that guy's dead. Okay. This is so out of character. He's a church-going guy. I think he had it down soon. That don't sound like him at all. Spivey had to have been on something, says Viscovi.

11:03That don't sound like him at all.

11:07I was able to reconstruct the last hours of Scott Spivey's life using phone records and security camera footage. Spivey had been in North Myrtle Beach, a vacation town about 15 miles away from Camp Swamp Road. Before he was shot and killed, Spivey spent his Saturday afternoon at a bar called Boardwalk Billy's. It's tucked away from the high-rise condos and many golf courses along the beach, a favorite spot with locals. Spivey chatted with other folks at the bar and watched college football. Scoring, scoring, touchdown Clemson.

11:43After about five hours at the bar, Spivey settled his tab. It came to$89, which covered a cheeseburger, a spicy tuna roll, seven beers, and eight shots of Fireball cinnamon whiskey. It's unclear how many of these drinks he consumed himself, but security footage shows him buying shots for other customers. At 5.40 p.m., Spivey texted a woman he'd been seeing, What are you doing tonight? At 5.41, he texted a different woman. By all accounts, when Spivey left Boardwalk Billy's, he wasn't fit to drive. There is a guy that is waving a gun in front of me trying to shoot at my car and the other one beside us.

12:24Weldon Boyd wasn't the first person to call 911 about Scott Spivey. A few minutes earlier, a young woman on her way home from a waitressing job spoke with a dispatcher. He's all over the road and I have his license plate number. Okay. Okay, he's waving the gun right now? He's waving it out the window at everybody. I don't know if he's under the influence of anything because he's all over the road. The woman says that she saw Spivey's black truck break suddenly in front of Weldon Boyd's white truck, forcing Boyd into the median. After Boyd got back on the highway, she followed both trucks onto Camp Swamp Road.

13:06He is pulled over on the side of the road. Actually, I am not. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I don't know what's going on. He's jumping out of the truck. I'm turning the same way there is a truck behind him and okay oh my god what happened ma 'am what happened did he fire the gun ma 'am ma 'am ma 'am I've got to move I've got to move okay just keep just keep going ma 'am

13:42So, what's your name? Blaze Ward. It's B-L-A-I-Z. Ward, W-A-R-D. About a half hour after the shooting, Blaze Ward was interviewed by a police officer. They're standing at the intersection of Highway 9 and Camp Swamp Road. To the officer, Ward seems like a key witness. Wait, I'm going to back you up so I get this right, because you literally saw everything from start to finish. Yes. So what truck pulled over first? The black truck. The black. He stopped in front of the white truck. I'm talking like in the road, not off the road, dead in front of him. Stop. Ward has just witnessed something shocking, and there are inconsistencies in her statements to police.

14:28For instance, Ward says that Spavvy shot at her car, but when she and the officer look for any evidence that happened, they can't find it. Ward also says that after turning onto Camp Swamp Road, she saw Scott Spivey shooting into Weldon Boyd's white truck. And how many times do you think he shot? Oh, God. It had to be more than seven. Shot. I don't want to be exaggerate or nothing like that, so I ain't going to say too much. Seven? End of the windshield? Yes. Basically, front of the truck. But the reason why I say windshield is because I've seen that glass popping. From my reporting, I've determined that what Blaze Ward is saying here is not true.

15:10Spivey did fire bullets on Camp Swamp Road, but none of them went through Boyd's windshield. The glass was popping because bullets were being fired out from inside Boyd's truck. The officer relays Ward's statements to his colleagues. So the girl in the white knee time saw everything start to finish. She was behind the whole thing all the way from, like, colonial charters all the way up to— she was stopped right behind them right here while people in the black truck got out and shot into the way. Out here? Right here. He started—he started showing the gun all the way back there. He pointed at her all the way back by.

15:55Boyd and Williams say they shot in self-defense, and Ward's statement appears to support that. The statements from other witnesses will appear to as well. So y 'all saw what happened on number nine? Yeah, yeah. It was way it started. We couldn't get mine. This witness is a blonde woman wearing a T-shirt that reads, Just a Girl Who Loves Donkeys. She also saw Scott Spivey driving erratically in his black truck. That black truck come flying by us. Like Blaze Ward, this witness says Spivey ran Boyd's white truck off the road. Black truck slammed on brakes. This one couldn't do nothing but go into the grass.

16:32You could see the dirt flying from where he had it. Basically, according to witnesses, whatever happened, the black truck started it. Another witness was driving past the trucks when the shooting started. The guy in the black truck locked up his brake, like stopped quick, jumped out with a pistol. I saw him when he got out the truck. He had his pistol like this, screaming and hollering. He says that Scott Spivey got out of his black truck with a gun in his hand. And then as I got past him, I just heard shots. And I freaking took off like this way, like a bat out of hell, called 911 and turned around.

17:02But yeah, the guy in the black jumped out with a pistol drawn. Together, these witness statements will help the police reach a quick decision about who was in the right and who was in the wrong on Camp Swamp Road.

17:17South Carolina's stand-your-ground law is different from many other states. Elsewhere, a person might be required to retreat if faced with a life-threatening situation, but not in this state. In South Carolina, a person has no duty to retreat if they are faced with this set of circumstances. Number one, you're in fear for your life. Number two, you're not the aggressor. And number three, you are in a place where you have a right to be. For the police at the scene, Weldon Boyd is meeting all these conditions. He was scared of an erratic driver with a gun. He didn't provoke him, and he was in his truck, a place where he had the right to be.

17:55All of this influences how the police handled the case from the beginning. Camp Swamp Road is not a murder scene.

18:07About 45 minutes after the shooting, Sergeant Damon Viscovey tells another cop why Boyd and Williams haven't been detained. They're not in handcuffs. It sounds like it's clear-cut self-defense. Everybody that's here, the witness-wise, said that guy was trying to run him off the road way back at Bell & Bell. He even pointed the gun at the girl in the white car. Okay. And shot at her? And shot at her? Yeah. Okay. And I know the guy. The first officer at the scene, Kerry Higgs, sums it up another way. These two boys are, one's a shot.

18:45It's that old mess around, find out thing. It's that old mess around, find out thing. The most senior officer on the scene walks over to Weldon Boyd, who's standing next to his trailer. He's shot at us. We're good. You're good. Don't worry about it. Things happen, you know. I don't understand this one. Detective come up here. We'll let your attorney come down here once he gets there. There's probably skid marks from where he ran in that ditch down there. One of the witnesses, the woman in the donkey shirt, also has some reassuring words. Calm down. Ain't nobody said you did anything wrong. Okay?