South Carolina man receives 3 life sentences for triple murder

HAMPTON, S.C. (WSAV)- A Varnville man convicted of shooting and killing three people will spend the rest of his life in prison, according to the South Carolina Fourteenth Judicial Circuit.

On Monday, 24-year-old Tyrase Akil Collins was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for the murder of 19-year-old Lamekia Mo’Asia Warren; 24-year-old Ghazi Abdul Duckett; and 32-year-old Frankie Lee Johnson, Jr.

Collins was 17 years old at the time of the killings.

In addition to the three life sentences, Collins also received 30 years for armed robbery and another five years for possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

“No amount of prison time, not even a life sentence, can undo the tragic loss that these victims’ families suffered,” said Reed Evans of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, who prosecuted the case.

Evans continued, “Nevertheless, I am pleased that the judge recognized that Mr. Collins’ youth did not outweigh the deliberate brutality of these killings and sentenced him accordingly.”

Warren, Duckett and Johnson were each found dead inside a home on Priscilla Lane in the Hampton County community of Varnville.

Duckett and Johnson had each been shot in the head and Warren sustained multiple gunshot wounds to her neck, chest, legs and arms.

Circuit Court Judge Robert Bonds handed down Monday’s sentence.