A Columbia man has been sentenced to over five decades in prison after a Lexington County jury verdict in a 2022 deadly shooting.
According to Eleventh Circuit Solicitor Rick Hubbard, a jury convicted Chendric J. Brown, 27, of murder and attempted murder in connection with the shooting death of Harold L. Peak, III, 22, on Princeton Road in Lexington County.
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Brown was sentenced to 54 years in jail and is ineligible for parole. Debra R. McCaslin, Chief Administrative Judge, imposed the sentence on the murder conviction, with 30 years concurrent on the attempted murder charge.
The trial began on January 5, 2026, and ended on January 14, 2026, when a Lexington County jury delivered its verdict. Brown was found guilty of killing Peak, who was shot on September 24, 2022. This was a calculated act of violence, committed with total disdain for human life,” Hubbard stated. “Our office remains committed to our mission to protect our community from violent crimes.”
The evidence produced at trial revealed that Brown drove to the front of an abandoned house on Princeton Road on the night of September 24, 2022. Peak and another man were known to be visiting a nearby home. According to prosecutors, Brown and an accomplice waited by the roadside for Peak to exit the house before opening fire with a 7.62 assault rifle on a red Kia Soul with Peak as a passenger.
Gunfire tragically struck Peak. Although the driver of the vehicle also sustained injuries, he managed to survive. According to authorities, errant shots from the firearm impacted a nearby home across the street while the residents were inside.
Investigators claimed they developed Brown as a suspect after following many leads. Nearby video footage revealed a car similar to Brown’s white Lexus NX exiting the area at 11:47 p.m., merely four minutes after the reported gunfire. A witness recognized Brown as the driver of the white Lexus NX that night.
Brown texted text messages to an accomplice, indicating that he was looking for information regarding Peak’s location and was angry with him.
Brown had previously had a 7.62 assault rifle, which is consistent with the murder weapon, according to video and images on his phone.
Brown has been transferred to the South Carolina Department of Corrections and will begin serving his sentence immediately.
