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In the early morning hours of Thursday, November 11, 2021 – at approximately 1:30 a.m. EST – Sinteria Harris and her sister, Destini Roach, were preparing to leave Gadgets Sports Bar in downtown Camden, South Carolina after meeting up with two of their friends.
The two sisters were regulars at the popular burger-and-beer joint, which prides itself on having a family-friendly environment. Moments before the bar was scheduled to close, a patron whom regulars and employees said they had never seen before “walked to the entrance of the restaurant and locked the door,” according to Camden police.
The man – 48-year-old Allen Martin Adame of West Camden, S.C. – had reportedly been at the bar for the previous two-and-a-half hours, “periodically watching Harris, her sister and their friends.”
Harris observed Adame as he locked the door and, according to police, alerted one of her male friends to what was happening. The friend “advised Adame that he was not supposed to be locking the door.”
It was unlocked without incident.
That was that, it seemed …
(Click to View)
Moments later, Harris, her sister and their friends settled their tabs at the bar. The four women collected their purses and jackets and prepared to head home.
None of them had any inkling of the harm about to befall the beautiful, 33-year-old mother of four from Lugoff, S.C.
“She was beautiful inside and out,” her aunt Margaret Harris noted in her obituary.
Her sister referred to her as a “loving sweetheart.”
As the women moved toward the exit of the bar, Adame – the man who had previously locked the front door – was observed “gathering his jacket and other belongings” as he hurriedly “followed after the victims.”
What was he doing? What was motivating his actions?
Nearly two years later, police and prosecutors still don’t know …
(Click to View)
What they do know is that upon leaving Gadgets on that fateful early morning, Adame walked across the parking lot and approached Harris – who was seated in the driver’s seat of her vehicle. Without warning, he shot at her nine times from his 9 millimeter pistol. Roach, who was seated next to her sister in the car, somehow managed to avoid being struck by bullets as she fled from the vehicle and ran away from the parking lot.
After firing his weapon into Harris’ car, Adame turned and fired at least four shots at her two friends – who were miraculously “able to escape with (only) minor wounds,” according to police.
Deputies of the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) apprehended Adame a short distance from the scene of the shooting and took him into custody. They found him in possession of the pistol used in Harris’ murder as well as a pair of fully loaded magazines in his pants pocket.
“No motive for the killing was ever offered,” a release from the office of S.C. fifth circuit solicitor Byron Gipson noted.
On Tuesday, October 31, 2021, Adame was scheduled to stand trial for Harris’ murder. At the moment a Kershaw County jury had been qualified to hear his case, though, he opted to plead guilty to the charges filed against him.
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S.C. circuit court judge Daniel Coble subsequently sentenced Adame to fifty (50) years in prison for Harris’ murder.
Gipson confirmed for this news outlet Adame’s sentence was “day-for day,” meaning the confessed killer will serve the full fifty years of his sentence and be ineligible for release until November 2071. Assuming he were to live to see that date, Adame would be 98 years old at the end of his sentence. As of this writing, Adame is undergoing his initial intake examinations at the Kirkland Reception and Evaluation Center in Columbia, S.C. – where he will stay as he awaits his permanent placement in the S.C. Department of Corrections (SCDC) system.
Gipson’s office credited Camden police detectives Brandon Richbourg and Carmen Oxandaboure for their work on the investigation into Harris’ murder. Gipson also praised the work of senior assistant solicitor Dale Scott and assistant solicitors Paul Walton and Clay Carruth, who prosecuted Adame with support from investigators Chris Davis and Justin Dill.
As regular members of our audience are well aware, this news outlet frequently calls out South Carolina’s judicial system – and its bad actors – when violent offenders are not held accountable for their actions. In the interest of fairness, I believe it is also important to highlight cases like this where violent criminals are held accountable – and to credit those who do the hard work of securing justice for victims.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven (soon to be eight) children.
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