Late-night silence in Spartanburg County shattered when gunshots rang out inside Ill Ink Tattoo in Boiling Springs. Deputized officers rushed to the scene after getting frantic emergency calls about a man down. They found 44-year-old Troy Conner bleeding on the floor from severe gunshot wounds. First responders loaded him into an ambulance, working hard to keep him stable on the way to the hospital.
Despite emergency medical staff pulling out all the stops at the hospital, Conner did not make it. Doctors pronounced the 44-year-old dead shortly after arrival. Word of his death turned what started as an active shooting call into a full-scale homicide investigation. Family members and locals were left reeling as news spread across the tight-knit South Carolina community.
Investigators focused their immediate efforts on the tattoo parlor along the local strip. Blue lights flashed off the shop windows as deputies taped off the parking lot and marked shell casings on the pavement. Detectives spent hours gathering physical evidence, looking for any clue that could explain what led up to the fatal gunfire inside the business.
It did not take long for Spartanburg County deputies to pinpoint a suspect in the killing. Officers tracked down Wade Christopher Kastner Jr. shortly after the shooting occurred. They took Kastner into custody without further incident, bringing an abrupt end to the initial search.
Authorities formally charged Kastner with murder in connection to Conner’s death. He was transported to the Spartanburg County Detention Center, where he remains held as legal proceedings get underway. Prosecutors have not yet released details regarding a possible motive or what transpired between the two men before the gun was drawn.
Neighbors and local business owners in Boiling Springs described shock at such violence hitting so close to home. The area around Ill Ink Tattoo is usually quiet late at night, making the sudden burst of gunfire even more alarming for folks living nearby. Many spent the following morning watching deputies work behind yellow crime scene tape.
Spartanburg County Sheriff’s investigators continue piecing together the timeline leading up to the shooting. They are asking anyone who was near Ill Ink Tattoo late that night or who might have seen something unusual to speak with detectives. Meanwhile, a community grieves the loss of Troy Conner while waiting for the justice system to take its course.
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