Charleston police have identified and arrested a Columbia man in connection with an armed robbery and a string of vehicle break-ins in a downtown parking area on Mary Street, closing out an investigation that began when two people confronted suspects rifling through cars late on a August night. Officers say one of the suspects pointed a gun at the pair and threatened to shoot before the group fled, and a check of the surrounding lot turned up several additional vehicles that had also been broken into.
Detectives identified the suspect as Shaheim Tywaun Jackson, 26, of Columbia, after tracing a vehicle believed to have been used in the crimes. The investigation did not stop at the Charleston incident: Charleston police detectives working alongside Richland County Sheriff’s Office investigators also connected Jackson to two separate home invasions in the Columbia area, broadening the case well beyond the initial downtown robbery report.
Jackson was located and taken into custody in Columbia with assistance from the Richland County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshals Task Force, an interagency effort that reflects how the case spanned jurisdictions across the state. He is now being held at the Al Cannon Detention Center in Charleston County while the investigation continues, and police have not said whether additional charges beyond the Charleston robbery and break-ins are still being finalized against him.
Charleston police are continuing to ask anyone with information about the case to contact the department’s Central Detective Unit, saying the investigation remains open even after Jackson’s arrest. The cross-jurisdictional cooperation between Charleston police, Richland County authorities and federal marshals highlights how quickly a single downtown parking-lot robbery can widen into a multi-county case once investigators start pulling on the same threads.
