Lexington County Sheriff’s Department investigators have served arrest warrants for murder on two men in connection with the Aug. 9 fatal shooting at Rolling Meadows mobile home park in West Columbia.
According to the warrants, Ricky Lamont Esaw fatally shot Hector Vasquez after robbing him. Wilfred Akeem Pitts Jr. shot Vasquez’ son.
“Our detectives recovered an item from the crime scene that Pitts says belongs to him,” Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said. “He also admitted to being at the scene with Esaw at the time of the robbery and shooting.
“After our community meeting with Rolling Meadows’ residents, we received a tip through CrimeStoppers that really helped our detectives on this case.”
In addition to the murder charges, both men face charges of attempted murder, armed robbery and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. Pitts also faces an obstruction of justice charge.
Esaw was being held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on unrelated charges when served with the arrest warrant for murder in the Rolling Meadows fatal shooting. Pitts was in the Lexington County Detention Center on an obstruction of justice charge stemming from the Rolling Meadows case when he was served with the murder arrest warrant.
“The Newberry County Sheriff’s Department, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department and SLED assisted us with this investigation,” Koon said. “The support we received from those agencies was valuable to us as we worked on this case.”