David Mark Hill was born on May 24, 1960, in South Carolina. He married Jacqueline Hill in 1991, and the couple had three children, including a daughter who became a quadriplegic following a car accident in 1995. This tragic event profoundly affected Hill, leading to depression, panic attacks, and seizures. He began withdrawing from his family, attempted suicide multiple times, and developed an addiction to prescription drugs. In 1996, Hill received notice that his wife was filing for divorce, and he was accused of sexually abusing his daughter.

On September 16, 1996, Hill entered the Aiken County Department of Social Services office in North Augusta, South Carolina, armed with a handgun. He fatally shot three employees: Michael Gregory, Josie Curry, and James Riddle. According to court documents, Hill killed Riddle because he was involved in the case that removed his children from his home, killed Gregory because he had seen him with the gun, and killed Curry "because she was black."

After the shootings, Hill fled the scene and was found the next morning lying on railroad tracks behind the building with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Despite his injuries, he survived and was taken into custody. Hill was convicted in February 2000 of three counts of murder and sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection on June 6, 2008, at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina.