A 21-year-old Winthrop University student was assaulted near the Walk2Campus apartment complex early Saturday morning. According to Kenneth Scoggins, Winthrop University Police Department chief of police, the victim was held at gunpoint as she was walking toward her apartment, instructed to go to a darker area where she was assaulted. The assailant then took her cell phone, ID, keys and car.
The investigation was carried out by the Rock Hill Police Department, as it was off campus and therefore in their jurisdiction, but according to an email Scoggins sent to the student body, WUPD was “assisting and remain[ing] actively involved in the investigation.”
The alleged assailant was arrested later that day around 11:30 a.m. on India Hook Road. The suspect is Terry Shaimek Tyler, 16. Tyler is technically considered a minor in the state of South Carolina, however he may be tried for the crimes—criminal sexual conduct first degree, armed robbery, kidnapping, grand larceny auto, possession of a pistol by a person under 18 and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence—as an adult. Tyler was found driving the stolen car with five other minors, all of whom were released to their families without charges. Tyler is currently being held in the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice.
