Hours after a 39-year-old tattoo artist was shot to death on the job this weekend, a 26-year-old man from Lexington, South Carolina, was charged with his murder, according to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department.
Regin Nicreis Oakman was charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime in the murder of January 31, Michael Lewis Keaton of Gaston, South Carolina.
Keaton was shot dead at around 12:30 pm Sunday at Lucky 7s Electric Tattoo Company on Platt Springs Road in West Columbia, South Carolina, according to reports.
“Based on the interviews conducted at the beginning of our investigation, the shooting resulted from an argument between two men who worked together in the business,” Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said.
According to Keaton’s Facebook, he has worked as a tattoo artist at Lucky 7s Electric Tattoo Company since 2016.
Keaton and Oakman were arguing all day on Saturday and the argument turned into a physical fight after midnight on Sunday, according to Koon.
“That’s when witnesses told us that Oakman drew a gun and shot Keaton,” said Koon.
Oakman left the tattoo parlor in a white Victorian Crown that had a spotlight near the driver’s mirror, according to arrest warrants in the case. He was quickly identified as a person of interest in the investigation.
“They tracked him to a house in the Topaz Court and arrested him without incident on Sunday afternoon,” said Koon.
Topaz Court is about seven minutes from the crime scene.
According to the arrest warrants (below), Oakman was “identified by public record after receiving a pseudonym and phone number from the defendant, as well as the identification of the witness”.
Oakman-Regin-Nicreis -_- 202100201
Oakman was charged at the Lexington County Detention Center, where he is awaiting a bail hearing, according to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department.
According to several Facebook posts, Keaton was a well-known tattoo artist and musician who was known as “Mic Grippa” on SoundCloud.
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