Independent Mail

The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office has arrested an Easley woman in the fatal shooting of her neighbor Saturday afternoon.

The Sheriff’s Office responded to a residence on Melissa Road after a report around 3 p.m. that a man had been shot.

When deputies arrived, they found that 58-year-old James Kenneth Brazeal had been shot in the chest, apparently with a shotgun, officials said. Brazeal was taken to Greenville Memorial Hospital, where he later died.

Detectives determined that a female acquaintance of Brazeal went to the shooting location and was seen by at least one witness to be in possession of a long gun just moments before a gunshot was heard by neighbors.

Rebecca Barten Smoak, 57, was arrested at her home around 8:15 p.m., Chief Deputy Creed Hashe said.

Smoak was taken from her residence to a local hospital, where she was being treated Saturday night, because authorities found her unconscious. Authorities recovered a shotgun from the residence.

Smoak will be brought to the Pickens County Detention Center and charged after she is released from the hospital, Hashe said.

The victim identified Smoak as the shooter before he died at the hospital, Hashe said.

Authorities had not yet determined a motive for the shooting as of Saturday night.



