Woman Believed Man Was Overdosing. When First Responders Arrived, He Fatally Shot Her By Liam Quinn

A South Carolina man who killed a woman after first shooting at a police officer four times was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

David Beaufort was sentenced after a jury convicted him of murder and attempted murder, as well as a weapons possession charge, according to the Ninth Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office, which did not name the victim in its press release Monday, Nov. 10.

Prosecutors said that early on the morning of Dec. 16, 2021, Beaufort and the victim had recorded a video of themselves having consensual sex in North Charleston, S.C. Minutes after the recording ended, the woman called 911 and told a dispatcher that she believed Beaufort was overdosing.

The call ended when Beaufort could be heard asking the woman to call his mother, according to prosecutors.

When first responders arrived, bodycam footage recorded the sound of the woman screaming in fear as they entered the home.

Beaufort subsequently fired four shots at responding police officer Jamie Sylvester, according to the solicitor’s office, which added that Beaufort then fatally shot the woman.

Prosecutors said that Beaufort later told EMTs that he had been drinking Everclear and smoking cocaine-laced marijuana.

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Beaufort initially tried to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, but doctors ruled that he had “mental capacity to distinguish moral and legal right from moral and legal wrong,” prosecutors said.

Despite then arguing self-defense, Beaufort was convicted of murder following a nearly four-day trial that began on Monday, Nov. 3.

“[Recently] we had three trials that ended in convictions, all of which involved violence against women,” Solicitor Scarlett A. Wilson said in a statement. “Brave Officers like Jamie Sylvester also suffer at the hands of these batterers. Thankfully, Officer Sylvester survived but this madness must stop.”