Authorities arrest man accused of shooting North Charleston Public Works employee

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Authorities have arrested a man accused of fatally shooting a North Charleston Public Works employee while he was on the job.

U.S. Marshals arrested 24-year-old Tyrell Lamont Smith in New York on Aug. 1. According to the North Charleston Police Department, he is currently being extradited to South Carolina.

Smith is charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime in the killing of 26-year-old Da’Tawn Gatling.

Officers responded to a shots fired call around 10:49 a.m. on Bayfield Drive July 18. When they arrived, they found Gatling suffering from a gunshot wound in a garbage truck.

After being shot, Gatling tried to leave the scene and lost control of the garbage truck, crashing into a tree along the edge of the Distribution International parking lot on Dorchester Road.

Detectives believe Gatling was shot while picking up recyclables on Bayfield Dr. He later died after being taken to Trident Medical Hospital.

Gatling was the only person inside the vehicle when the shooting happened.

Harrison Schweers works at Distribution International and described to News 2 what he heard and saw the morning of the shooting.

“Basically I was just out back moving material with our forklift. You know, I had my earphones in just in case anyone called and I heard what sounded like six or seven gunshots and I just thought, ‘no way that’s crazy, that’s not gonna happen,’” Schweers recalled. “And I walked inside two minutes later and that truck was hit, hit that palmetto tree right there. And I guess it was real, I guess they were gun shots.”