‘I’ll keep fighting’: South Carolina woman takes stage at Democratic convention to talk about niece’s unsolved murder in Myrtle Beach

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — A South Carolina woman whose niece was shot and killed in Myrtle Beach in 2014 was among five people who spoke about gun violence Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Melody McFadden, of Charleston, said her 22-year-old niece Sandy Barnwell was shot to death over the Memorial Day weekend. Two other people died in the shooting, which remains unsolved.

“She drove to Myrtle Beach for sun and fun and motorcycle parades,” McFadden said during her minute-long speech. “Hours later, my phone rang. Shooting on the beach, no one can find Sandy.”

When she got the news, McFadden said she turned to her past experiences to stay calm.

“My mother, Patricia Ann, had been shot and killed by an abusive partner,” she said. “I was calm then, too. I got to handling business. I called relatives, the police, hospitals, and I kept calling, voice steady, heartbeat pulsing. Then, I was connected to the coroner. Tens years of waiting and Sandy’s murder is still unsolved. I”ll keep calling, and I’ll keep fighting.”

McFadden has talked publicly about her niece’s murder in May 2016 , McFadden attended the “Hands Around The Statehouse” event in Columbia, where protesters rallied to close a to close a gun-background-check loophole.

“It makes no sense at all that you can go to the beach to have fun and people have guns there,” she said.

McFadden also discusses her niece’s murder in an article on the website of the Newtown Action Alliance Foundation, a group formed after the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in which a 20-year-old gunman killed 26 people, 20 of whom were between 6 and 7 years old,

“On Memorial Day weekend 2014, Sandy, her cousin and friends drove to Myrtle Beach for the day to see what Black Bikers week was like,” she said in the article. “After being on the beach for under three hours a fight broke out and the boys started shooting at each other and the crowds of people that were running away.”

That’s when she said her niece was hit by a random bullet in the forehead.

“We will not rest until there is justice for Sandy,” McFadden said in the article. “So I must speak for her. My mother and my niece will not be forgotten. Their lives nor their deaths will be in vain. We will stop gun violence!”

News13 asked Myrtle Beach police if they’ve received any recent tips or if any there was any new information in the case.

“This [is] an active investigation and is actively being investigated by our cold case team. If you have any information about this case, please call the Myrtle Beach Police Department at 843-918-1382.”

Information from the Associated Press was included in this story.

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Dennis Bright is the Digital Executive Producer at News13 . He joined the team in May 2021. Dennis is a West Virginia native and a graduate of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Follow Dennis on, Facebook , X, formerly Twitter , and read more of his work here .

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