Man sentenced to 50 years in fatal 2012 restaurant shooting

CHARLESTON COUNTY, SC (WCSC) - The man convicted of a fatal shooting at a Savannah Highway restaurant in 2012 was sentenced to 50 years in prison on Friday, according to the Ninth Circuit Solicitor's Office.

Deonte Steven Brown had been convicted on charges of murder, attempted murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in connection with the July 15, 2012 incident, Ninth Circuit Solicitor's Office spokesperson Naomi Nation said.

The jury returned verdicts of guilty on every charge after deliberating almost a day and a half. Brown must serve the fifty year sentence without the possibility of parole, Nation said.

Police say Brown came to the Waffle House at 3565 Savannah Highway after leaving a local nightclub with several friends. For reasons that were unclear, Brown started yelling at Quinton Allen, another patron, police say. When Allen did not react, Brown escalated the encounter and it quickly turned physical, police said.

Authorities say that while Brown was being forced out of the restaurant, he pulled out a gun, fired several shots, hitting Allen in the arm, then fired several more shots as he fled the scene, fatally wounding Dontaye Reed in the back.

Reed died at the scene.

"There was no need for this to have happened in the first place," Assistant Solicitor Stephanie Linder said. "It was a senseless act that had grave consequences."

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