Retired police chief takes his own life after allegedly attacking a Myrtle Beach judge

HORRY COUNTY, SC (WBTW) — A Myrtle Beach traffic judge claimed she was threatened and assaulted after her home was burglarized last month, according to a Horry County police report obtained by News13.

Brana Williams filed a complaint for aggravated assault against her soon-to-be ex-husband. Her ex-husband, James B. Arnold, is also the retired police chief of Isle of Palms. Arnold has since taken his own life.

The house on Chapel Ridge Circle, near Saint James High School, is just one of the properties where Arnold and Williams lived before Williams served him with divorce papers and moved out. However, it is the house where Arnold took his own life.

Williams and her boyfriend Brian Shives reflected on the attack.

“I fell asleep, and thank God, because he was, I mean, unaware of what happened,” Shives said. “He didn’t know I was in the house. He came to kill her and everyone else in the house. He told a few people this thing, this stuff.”

Arnold broke into Williams’ home around 2 a.m. on May 28, the report said. Williams said she and Arnold were married for 23 years before filing for divorce a few months ago.

Together they adopted six children, all under the age of 20.

Shives says they met when Williams took one of her daughters to the tattoo parlor where he worked. He claims Williams had already moved out of their house with Arnold by that point.

Shives described confronting Arnold the night he broke into their home.

“I saw she had two younger sons holding her by the arms, and I saw the gun, so I jumped over … jumped up and put my finger behind the trigger,” he said.

According to the report, Arnold was trying to enter Williams’ bedroom when a struggle broke out. Shives said Arnold had a gun in his hand and tried to grab it.

“He hit me about six or seven times to make me cum,” Shives said. “So I grabbed the magazine and when he saw that, he tried to hit me in the chest to make the gun go off. He pretty much ripped up my chest.”

Shives said he has a few cuts on his chest from the gun and Williams was hit once while trying to escape from Arnold, but the children are fine.

Shives said he had to bite Arnold’s finger to get him to let go and leave the house.

“When I walked out, I told him, ‘Listen, you know you’re going to jail and you’re a cop,'” Shives said. “I said, ‘What’s going to happen to you?’ It was like he realized that and ran out the door.”

Shives said when Arnold left Williams’ house, he was followed by police officers. He said Arnold pulled into the driveway of his home on Chapel Ridge Circle and shot himself.

Williams posted on Facebook about a service for Arnold that took place four days after his death.

This story is still developing. Stay tuned to News13 for updates.

Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is struggling with a mental health crisis and is considering suicide, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 9-8-8. The hotline offers people in crisis or those wanting to help someone else the opportunity to speak with a trained listener. Help is also available at 988lifeline.org.