Man Who Filmed Victim’s Final Moments On Snapchat Before ‘Malicious’ Murder Sentenced

A South Carolina man has been sentenced to prison after authorities say he murdered a man and filmed his final moments on Snapchat.

Sebastian Kaisk, 21, was charged with murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime for the shooting death of Tyler Schaeffer in North Myrtle Beach, according to the 15th Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office. On Wednesday, a Horry County found Kaisk guilty.

Circuit Court Judge H. Steven DeBerry sentenced the defendant to 43 years behind bars for the murder charge — a no parole offense — and an additional five years for the firearm charge. Each sentence will run consecutively.

Prosecutors said on July 14, 2019, Kaisk sought the 32-year-old victim to collect on a $200 debt. The defendant found Schaeffer outside the Bi-Lo grocery store and walked him to a road near Schaeffer’s residence.

Kaisk filmed Scheffer’s final moments with his phone, as published by the solicitor’s office. The 40-second video shows Schaeffer sitting on the ground and crying as he pleads with Kaisk to let him call his children.

“What the f***, bro?” begs Schaeffer. “Let me call my kids.”

“Nah, man,” said Kaisk. “I feel sorry for your kids, though. Say whatever you want for heaven, bro. Or Hell, whatever way you go to.”

Surveillance video played during the trial showed the two men minutes after Kaisk recorded the Snapchat video, according to My Horry News. The footage showed Kaisk and Schaeffer fighting on the ground before Kaisk stood up and shot Schaeffer.

Kaisk briefly ran away but returned to collect his shirt, prosecutors stated. Then he shot the victim a second time. Schaeffer sustained a bullet wound on the right side of his upper body and in the back of the head.

Police arrested Kaisk the next day.

“This was a malicious killing by the defendant,” Assistant Solicitor Seth Oskin said on Wednesday. “He sought out Mr. Schaeffer, who was unarmed and killed him over $200. There is no doubt to the defendant’s guilt in this matter.”

During Kaisk’s interviews with the North Myrtle Beach Police Department, he initially claimed to shoot Schaeffer in self-defense, according to the local outlet. He also claimed he meant the Snapchat video to be a joke.

“It wasn’t my intention for everything to go that far,” Kaisk said during a pre-trial hearing. “I was just trying to be funny about it. It just went a little too far. I think that’s exactly how we got into a tussle.”

The jury didn’t buy Kaisk’s claims of self-defense.

“Did the defendant actually believe he was in danger of losing his life or great bodily harm? No,” Oskin said in his closing arguments. “How could he? Tyler Schaeffer went to Bi-Lo at 10:49 p.m. to get a bag of noodles. That’s what was sitting beside him when he was seated on the ground, being stood over and filmed, being humiliated, crying, scared, frantic, thinking about the only thing he could in that moment: talking to his kids.”

The victim’s grandmother, Jean Tresselt, spoke before Wednesday’s sentencing, according to My Horry News.

“The very fact that he thought of his children at the moment of his death tells me what he could have been,” said Tresselt.

Tyler Schaeffer leaves behind a son and two daughters.