Charleston man pleads guilty to killing mother of 7

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – A 32-year-old man pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing the mother of his seven children just a day before heading to trial.

Officers with the North Charleston Police Department responded to an urgent care facility on July 11, 2021, for a gunshot victim. The victim, Toni Frasier, died from a gunshot wound to her face.

An investigation determined the shooting happened on Blackwell Street and that the suspect, Denzel Laron Washington, was the father of the victim’s seven children.

One of the victim’s children told investigators that an argument between Washington and Frasier began earlier in the day.

According to the Ninth Circuit Solicitor’s Office, surveillance video from a neighbor’s home showed the couple arguing in the front yard, with the victim keeping a car in between them. The video shows the defendant walking to his car on the street, and the victim going into the house. It also showed the defendant retrieving a handgun from the car and then following the victim.

An argument continued before Washington shot the victim as she ran across the yard. He took her to urgent care, but the woman was already dead.

Washington pleaded guilty to murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Circuit Court Judge Jennifer McCoy sentenced him to 40 years in prison.

“We are grateful to Judge McCoy giving this abuser a stiff sentence. This is yet another life cut short by inexcusable gun violence,” said Solicitor Scarlett Wilson.