Man who killed 4 family members in Mt. Pleasant found not guilty by reason of insanity

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Lovequawn Scott was turned away from a mental health facility the day before he killed four of his family members in Mount Pleasant in 2018, said Jennifer Kneece Shealy with the Ninth Circuit’s Solicitor’s Office in court Friday.

“He was denied treatment because he did not have the requisite funds and no insurance,” she added.

Scott was found not guilty by reason of insanity in a bench trial Friday morning.

The solicitors, detectives, defense team and judge all agreed on the decision, saying Scott was not criminally responsible for his actions at the time of the murders.

They said Scott was suffering from the onset of schizophrenia and murderous thoughts when he attacked his grandparents, aunt, and niece.

Shealy said such an agreement was rare but necessary in this case because it was clear Scott was very sick.

Heartbreaking details of the tragedy were presented in court.

His Aunt Kenya, one of the victims, was the person who took Scott to a local mental health facility near his home.

“He is reported to have made statements that there was a little man in his throat talking to him and telling him to do things he did not want to do,” Shealy said.

She said Scott was turned away, untreated.

Later that morning, she said Scott went to the family’s church enraged and weeping. Two people calmed him down by praying and singing with him.

His cousin Faith, another of the victims, texted close family members that she was afraid because Scott was acting strangely the night before the murders.

Two mental health doctors’ reports concluded Scott “did not have the requisite ability to distinguish right from wrong due to the onset of mental illness and his being in a paranoid state,” Shealy said.

To be abundantly cautious, the Solicitor’s office had a third doctor from MUSC review the case, and he concluded the same.

After the murders, they said, Scott went to a psychiatric hospital where he listed three of the victims on his visitation list, not understanding they were gone.

Detectives said he was paranoid during his interview and worried he thought officers were trying to poison him. He told officers he did “not want to hear any evil.”

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