Camariya Tidwell was 19 years old. She was a mom. She loved her dog, a little guy named Chucky. She kept to herself, stayed out of trouble, and by every account from the people who knew her, she was one of the kindest people you could meet. On Saturday night, May 16, 2026, she was shot and killed in the front yard of her family’s home on Mount Gallant Road in Rock Hill, South Carolina. She died in her mother’s arms.
The man charged with her murder, 34-year-old Sean Xavier Hubbard of Clover, South Carolina, didn’t even know her. Police say Camariya was not the intended target. She was simply standing in her own yard when Hubbard came back to the home for a third time in less than a week, armed and looking for someone else. The story of how it got to that point is infuriating, heartbreaking, and raises serious questions about whether more could have been done to prevent it.
It Started With a Car Repair Found on Social Media
According to the family, the entire chain of events began with something completely ordinary. A cousin of Camariya’s, Jamya McCullough, found Hubbard through social media and hired him to work on her car. At some point, she decided she no longer wanted his services and told him so. She cut off contact and blocked him.
That should have been the end of it. Instead, Hubbard allegedly began threatening the family and escalating the situation in ways nobody could have predicted from a simple car repair dispute. What started as an argument over services turned into days of terror for a family that did everything they were supposed to do. They called the police. They filed reports. They installed security cameras. And it still wasn’t enough.
The First Shooting on May 12
Four days before Camariya was killed, someone fired into the family’s home. It happened on Tuesday, May 12. According to Camariya’s mother, Shifarnia McCullough, four gunshots went through her son’s room while her son and her grandson were lying in their beds. Nobody was physically hurt, but think about that for a second. Children in a bedroom. Bullets coming through the walls.
The family called police and filed a report. McCullough said that detectives didn’t reach out to the family until Friday, May 15. That was three days after bullets were fired into a room with children inside, and one day before her daughter would be killed. A crime investigator was assigned to the case, and police said additional patrols were sent to the area. But the family was left feeling exposed and unprotected during those critical days.
After the May 12 shooting, the family made a decision to install security cameras around their home. That move would later prove crucial in identifying Hubbard, but it couldn’t save Camariya.
Doorbell Camera Captured Everything on Saturday
On Saturday, May 16, the newly installed cameras captured something chilling. In broad daylight, a man walked up to the family’s front porch carrying a shotgun that was heavily wrapped in cloth, apparently to hide what it was. He walked right up to the front door and fired directly through it, then ran away.
Nobody was home during the daytime attack, so no one was physically hurt. But the video is disturbing to watch. The casual way the man walks up, fires, and leaves suggests someone who had been planning this and didn’t care who might see him do it. Police were called immediately and began searching for the suspect’s vehicle. They were able to identify Hubbard using the doorbell camera footage and checked his last known address with help from the York County Sheriff’s Office.
They didn’t find him.
The Family Asked Police to Stay. Then Hubbard Came Back.
After the daytime shooting, the family was terrified. They asked police to stay near the home while they packed their belongings, fearing Hubbard would return. Rock Hill police Lt. Michael Chavis confirmed that officers remained in the area. According to police, eight officers worked the initial call for over an hour and a half, searching the immediate area and then expanding to Hubbard’s known addresses.
But at some point, the police presence thinned out. The family believes Hubbard was watching and waiting for officers to leave before he returned. And he did return. On foot this time, not in a vehicle, which is likely why officers scanning for his car missed him. Security cameras captured a man with a firearm running through the family’s yard later that night.
Around 11 p.m., the second call came in. Camariya had been shot.
“My Baby Died in Front of Me in My Arms”
Officers found Camariya on the ground in the front yard with a gunshot wound. She later died from her injuries. Her mother was there when it happened.
“We sat there and watched my baby lay on the ground dead,” McCullough told reporters. “This man shot my baby with a rifle. She had nine holes in her body.”
Those words are hard to read, and they should be. A 19-year-old mother, standing in her own front yard at the home where she grew up, killed by a man she had never had any conflict with. McCullough described her daughter as bright, intelligent, loving, and compassionate. She called her “the angel.” Camariya’s brother, Caleb Tidwell, said the family had been living in fear for a week straight.
“For a week straight, he stalked my family’s home,” Caleb said. “He terrorized my family.”
Hubbard Was Arrested Hours Later
After the shooting, police moved fast. Sean Xavier Hubbard was taken into custody around 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning at an address on Fig Branch Road. His arrest involved a SWAT activation with assistance from the York County Sheriff’s Office. He was charged with murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. He also has an additional warrant for discharging a firearm into a home, related to the earlier incidents.
Hubbard had a bond hearing on Sunday. The judge denied bond. Officials say additional charges could still be filed as the investigation continues.
The Family Wants Answers About the Police Response
While the family is grateful Hubbard is behind bars, they are demanding answers about why he wasn’t apprehended sooner. The timeline, from their perspective, is damning. Bullets fired into a child’s bedroom on May 12. Three days before detectives reached out. Clear doorbell footage of an armed man shooting through their front door in broad daylight on May 16. A known suspect with a known address. And still, Hubbard returned and killed their daughter that same night.
McCullough said she feels more could have been done. Police maintain that they responded appropriately, canvassing the area, searching for the suspect vehicle, and coordinating with the sheriff’s office. Lt. Chavis acknowledged the outcome was terrible but pointed to the active search efforts after the daytime shooting.
The gap between those two versions of events is where the pain lives for this family. They did everything right. They reported the threats. They installed cameras. They provided evidence. They asked for protection. And their daughter is gone.
“She Was Not the Intended Target”
During a press briefing, Lt. Chavis confirmed what makes this case even more gut-wrenching. Camariya Tidwell was not the person Hubbard was after. “We do know that the victim was not the intended target,” Chavis said. “It was somebody else our suspect had an issue with, and he thought the best way to solve this was to engage in violence, which is horrendous.”
Camariya had no personal conflict with Hubbard. She didn’t hire him. She didn’t block him on social media. She was simply there, in her own yard, at her family’s home, on a Saturday night. A 19-year-old who loved her family, loved her dog, and had her whole life ahead of her. Taken by a man she had no connection to, over a car repair dispute with someone else entirely.
A Mother’s Grief and the Struggle to Forgive
McCullough spoke openly about the impossible weight of grief and faith colliding. “I’m a Christian and I know we are supposed to forgive,” she said, “but I don’t have forgiveness because my daughter will never come back to me.”
There’s nothing anyone can say to that. There’s no silver lining, no lesson that makes it better. A young mother is dead. Her family is shattered. The suspect is in jail. And the community in Rock Hill is left grappling with how a petty dispute about car work spiraled into a week of stalking, gunfire, and murder.
The investigation is ongoing. If anyone has additional information, Rock Hill police are asking people to come forward. The family has asked that people remember Camariya for her soft spirit, her love for her family, and the bright future she should have had.