Background: The image shows the location of the tragic shooting of Jillian Angner in March 2023 in South Carolina. The inset on the left features John Patrick Shea from Beaufort County Detention Center, while the inset on the right shows Jillian Angner from Sauls Funeral Home.
A South Carolina man who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend in front of her young son will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
During his appearance in court, 29-year-old John Patrick Shea expressed his remorse to the family of Jillian Angner, the 25-year-old woman he shot while she was on her way to drop off her 6-year-old son at school. Shea, who had a previous relationship with Angner and had been stalking her after their breakup, pleaded guilty to all charges against him, which included Angner’s murder and the attempted murder of her son.
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In a statement from the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office in South Carolina, Shea entered a guilty plea for Angner’s murder right at the start of his trial. Prosecutors disclosed that Shea confessed to intentionally killing Angner and also admitted guilt to “the attempted murder of Angner’s young son, firing a gun into an occupied vehicle, and having a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.”
According to prosecutors, Shea and Angner’s relationship ended in October 2022. In the months that followed, Angner reported “multiple instances of stalking and break-ins at her home” that were allegedly committed by Shea.
On the morning of March 2, 2023, Shea got a friend to drive him to Angner’s home. The friend believed the ride was for a “drug run” and did not know he was driving Shea to Angner’s home.
As Angner packed up her car to take her 6-year-old son to school, she was ambushed by Shea, who opened fire on her and her son while they were in her Jeep Cherokee. He had been waiting for them to come outside. Angner was struck several times, including a critical wound to her neck. Her son “escaped by crawling out of the back of the vehicle and hiding in a nearby marsh,” according to prosecutors.
Angner was hospitalized and placed on life support. She never regained consciousness and died on Aug. 5, 2023.
Shea was apprehended days later while he was packing his car with suitcases and preparing to flee. He had his passport and birth certificate on him when he was taken into custody.
During the investigation by the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, authorities searched his apartment and found “defaced photographs of Angner, tarot cards, a voodoo doll, a makeshift shrine, and literature related to satanism and the occult.” A letter written by Shea’s own mother described her concern for her son’s behavior and mentioned a threat against his brother’s life.
Authorities also found evidence that Shea was possibly stalking other women he had dated going back to 2008, “along with notes about each encounter.” Shea also apparently attempted to create an alibi for himself by leaving his car parked at a bar.
Shea’s murder trial had begun on Tuesday, when seven witnesses testified on the stand. Before testimony could resume on Wednesday, the defendant confessed to his crimes and pleaded guilty “without recommendation or negotiation from the state,” according to courtroom reporting by local news outlet The Island Packet.
Shea told the court, “I can’t take this pain in my heart anymore. I’m sorry, from the deepest reaches of my soul, for what has happened here.” He claimed he was “mentally sick and mentally unstable” at the time of the crime.
He then pleaded with Circuit Court Judge S. Bryan Doby, “Please, please spare my life, your honor. Please spare my life. I beg of you: Please spare my life. I made a mistake.”
