Shots Through a Locked Door: Jennings Road Arrest Puts Guns, Alcohol and Domestic Violence Back in Focus

Posted Thursday, October 29, 2026 11:16 am

David Hucks (via MyrtleBeachSC)

Oct 29, 2026 · @David

An argument that police say began over a garden hose left running on a lemon tree ended with a bullet fired through a locked bedroom door in a Myrtle Beach home last week. A 66-year-old woman now faces a felony charge that carries up to 20 years in prison.

Myrtle Beach police arrested Pamela Garland Shanley on the night of Oct. 21 after officers answered a shooting call in the 600 block of Jennings Road, according to the department’s arrest and incident reports. She is charged with domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature and with using a firearm while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Police identified her as Pamela Garland, reported the same two charges and stated that no one was hurt in the incident related to the Jennings Road Arrest.

These are accusations, not findings of guilt. Shanley is presumed innocent, and no statement from her or an attorney had been reported as of Thursday.

Nobody was wounded, nobody fled, and it took police one night to make an arrest. On paper, it is a small case. But it lands squarely on three things Horry County has struggled with for years: guns kept in the home, alcohol, and domestic violence. How the law treats a shot that hit no one says a lot about how South Carolina has decided to handle that combination.

The Jennings Road Arrest highlights ongoing issues in the community regarding domestic violence.

Understanding the Jennings Road Arrest: A Case Study in Domestic Violence

What police say happened on Jennings Road

The account in the police reports comes almost entirely from the husband, and it unfolds over about two and a half hours.

He told officers his wife left the house around 6 p.m. to go out for drinks. She came back around 8:30 p.m. upset that he had left a hose running in the front yard after watering a lemon tree, according to the incident report. The conversation then turned to their relationship and where it was headed. When he said he did not know, he went into his bedroom and locked the door so the argument would not get worse.

According to the report, Shanley pounded on the door twice and then fired a .380-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun through it, in his direction. He then told her he was calling the police, and she pleaded with him not to, the report says. The arrest report states her actions put him in fear of serious bodily injury, and she was jailed that night.

The two TV accounts differ on small details. WBTW puts the call at about 8:40 p.m. and WPDE at about 8:45 p.m. WBTW uses the full name Pamela Garland Shanley, while WPDE uses Pamela Garland [WBTW, 2026; WPDE, 2026]. Those gaps are common in early reporting from police paperwork, and court records should settle them.

One detail deserves attention. By the husband’s account, he did what people are usually told to do when a fight is heating up: he walked away and put a locked door between them. It did not matter. An interior bedroom door gives privacy, not protection, and a handgun round can pass through it. When a gun is in the house, distance and a lock offer far less safety than people assume.

Why no injuries can still mean a felony

The phrase in the arrest report about the husband’s fear is not filler. It mirrors the language of the law Shanley is charged under.

South Carolina’s domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature statute does not require a wound. It covers domestic violence committed, with or without physical contact, under circumstances showing extreme indifference to human life, when the conduct would reasonably make someone fear imminent great bodily injury or death [S.C. Code § 16-25-65, 2019]. The law’s first listed example of extreme indifference is using a deadly weapon. A conviction is a felony punishable by up to 20 years [S.C. Code § 16-25-65, 2019]. That structure dates to the state’s 2015 domestic violence overhaul, which rewrote the offense and its penalties [S.C. Code § 16-25-65, 2019].

In plain terms: under this law, prosecutors may not need to prove anyone was hit. They will likely focus on whether a gun was fired toward a household member and whether that would put a reasonable person in fear for their life.

The second charge is narrower. State law makes it illegal to fire a gun while under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance. It is a misdemeanor carrying a fine of at least $2,000 or up to two years in prison, and it does not apply to someone lawfully defending themselves or their property [S.C. Code § 23-31-400, 2022]. A related section lets officers ask for a breath or urine test when they have probable cause to believe a shooter was impaired [S.C. Code § 23-31-410, 2022].

That is a gap in the public record so far. The only reported evidence of drinking is the husband’s statement that his wife went out for drinks [WPDE, 2026]. Neither report says whether a breath or urine test was given. If the impairment charge goes forward, that question will matter.

A familiar pattern: small fights, closed doors, loaded guns

The Jennings Road case is the second time this year that Myrtle Beach police have accused a woman of shooting at a man after he shut a door on an argument.

In June, police charged 46-year-old Meshelle Johnson with attempted murder after a shooting inside a unit at 2005 Greens Blvd. off 21st Avenue North. Warrants say she became irate when a man would not drive her to a gas station. He pushed her out of his room and closed the door. She then tried to force it open and, when he opened it, fired several shots, hitting him in the neck and arm. Police said a 2024 arson conviction barred her from having a gun at all.

The two cases are different in important ways. One involves a married couple and a shot that missed. The other involves a serious injury and an attempted murder charge. Neither has been proven in court.

But the shape is the same. In both, the reported trigger was trivial: a garden hose, a ride to the gas station. In both, the man tried to end the argument by stepping behind a door. And in both, a handgun within reach turned a household fight into a shooting within minutes.

That pattern matters more than the stated reasons. The Violence Policy Center, which has tracked domestic killings in South Carolina for decades, has warned that a gun in the home is what can turn domestic violence into homicide [WIS, 2018]. It is also a reminder that domestic violence is not one-directional. South Carolina’s law is written for any household member, and men are victims too.

Horry County’s long fight with domestic violence

The Jennings Road shooting comes at the end of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, in a state that has ranked among the worst in the nation for deadly domestic violence for a generation.

The Violence Policy Center’s annual study of women killed by men placed South Carolina in the national top 10 in 23 of 25 years, missing only 2018 and 2020 [WRDW, 2023]. Its latest edition, released in September 2026 using 2024 data, found the state’s rate has fallen since its 1998 peak but is still above the national average [Fox Carolina, 2026]. Nationally, the group has found that most women killed by men knew their killer and that a gun is the most common weapon [Violence Policy Center, 2020].

Men are among the dead, too. At this month’s Silent Witness ceremony at the State House, the names read aloud included 30 women and 10 men killed in domestic violence in South Carolina in 2025 [Fox Carolina, 2026].

Horry County sits near the top of the state’s problem. In 2023, the director of the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault said Horry was one of the three worst counties in the state for violence against women [WMBF, 2023]. In 2021, the county’s top prosecutor called a local shelter one of Horry County’s biggest needs. At the time, the county had gone without its own domestic violence shelter since 2013, and about 60% of the people in the Georgetown shelter came from Horry [WBTW, 2021].

Seen against those numbers, the most important fact in the Jennings Road reports may be the one that is easiest to skip: no one was hurt. The difference between this case and a homicide was where one man happened to be standing in his bedroom.

What’s next

The case now moves into the court system, where several open questions will shape what happens.

Bond and conditions. Neither report has said whether Shanley remains jailed, what bond was set, or whether a judge ordered her to stay away from her husband or the home.
The impairment evidence. Whether officers requested a breath or urine test will likely decide whether the firearm-under-the-influence charge holds up [S.C. Code § 23-31-410, 2022].
The felony charge. Prosecutors will have to show the shot was fired toward her husband in a way that would make a reasonable person fear for his life [S.C. Code § 16-25-65, 2019]. She is entitled to contest that.

Residents can follow filings through the Horry County public court index. We will update this story as court records and statements become available.

If you need help: The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233. The Family Justice Center, which serves Horry and Georgetown counties, has listed (844) 208-0161 as its number [WBTW, 2021]. In an emergency, call 911.