A North Charleston man will be spending life in prison without the possibility of parole after he was found guilty on multiple criminal counts connected to a 2016 home invasion that turned deadly.
Byron Labron Rivers, 26, was convicted of murder and seven other counts by a Charleston County jury on Thursday following a three-day trial, according to the 9th Circuit Solicitor's Office.
Just before 10 p.m. on July 15, 2016, Rivers and Stacy Lavale Green, 26, knocked on the door of 1808 Leland St., forced their way inside and tried to rob the occupants, according to police.
"Immediately upon gaining entry, Rivers shot a guest in the head," the Solicitor's Office stated. "That victim miraculously survived and alerted neighbors after jumping through a glass window to escape."
Rivers and Green ordered the remaining occupants to the ground, held them at gunpoint, forced them to remove their pants and went through their belongings, the Solicitor's Office stated.
At some point, 38-year-old Kirby Fyall charged at Rivers and Green in an attempt to protect his family, the Solicitor's Office stated. Rivers opened fire, killing Fyall, and shot a third person before accidentally shooting himself in the leg.
When officers arrived at the home, they found Fyall dead on the floor with shell casings and narcotics nearby, according to the reports.
Rivers and Green tried to escape but were stopped by civilians, the Solicitor's Office stated.
Officers saw “countless people running in all directions,” according to the police reports. A man was lying on the ground with several people beating him and people saying he shot somebody.
“The scene was very chaotic with subjects running and screaming everywhere,” an officer noted.
Officers broke up the fight and took the man on the ground into custody — it was Rivers.
Green, who pleaded guilty to charges in March and received a 30-year prison sentence, was also apprehended at the scene.
Witnesses told authorities that Rivers and Green shared a pair of mittens, each wearing one glove on their right hands, the Solicitor's Office stated. Experts in DNA and firearms tied Rivers to the murder weapon "and a recorded telephone call made by Rivers detailed the crimes."
In addition to the murder count, Rivers was found guilty of first-degree burglary, two counts of attempted murder, three counts of armed robbery and one count of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
He was previously convicted of third-degree burglary and malicious injury to personal property, the Solicitor's Office stated.
