South Carolina police said that a second shooting in the state in the last two days has resulted in nine people getting injured at a restaurant after an incident at a mall that already left 14 residents injured.
The latest horrific shooting occurred on Sunday morning at Cara's Lounge in Furman, South Carolina. The area of the crime was roughly 50 miles northwest of Columbia, said the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED). The agency said it received a request from the Hampton County Sheriff's Office to lead the investigation of the incident.
South Carolina Shootings
Authorities said that the circumstances leading up to the shooting incident were not yet clear and police did not release further information or details. The previous incident, a shooting at a mall in Columbia, happened the day before and ended with 14 people being injured.
Police said that the victims of the first shooting were trying to flee the area when the gunman started firing at people. The victims of that incident ranged in age from 15 to 73 years old and police said they have arrested a 22-year-old on a charge of unlawful carrying of a pistol, as per ABC News.
The suspect that the police arrested was identified to be Jewayne M. Price and was one of three people initially detained as a person of interest. Currently, he is still in police custody and is expected to be charged with other crimes in the near future.
Among the victims, only the 73-year-old is still being given hospital treatment while the others have already been released or will be released shortly. The first attack, police said, was not a random shooting.
According to NPR, Columbia Police Chief W.H. "Skip" Holbrook said that his department believes that the armed people arrested knew each other and something resulted in the shooting. The latest incident had no fatalities but two of the injured were in critical condition.
A Separate Incident
The two incidents in South Carolina also come after a horrific mass shooting in Brooklyn, New York was considered to be the worst crime on the subway in decades. The suspect in the shooting was described to be wearing a gas mask when he removed a canister from one of the bags he was carrying and let smoke billow out into the subway car he was in.
Then, the man quickly pulled out a handgun and started indiscriminately shooting at other passengers, which the conductor was unaware of while he was in the second car. A teacher on his way to school in the Williamsburg section, Eric Acevedo, was standing at one of the stations, 45th Street. He then noticed the lights in the second car of the train suddenly go dark.
He then heard three shots and saw one of the windows shatter, quickly looking at the stranger beside him and saying, "That doesn't sound good." Passengers in the car immediately tried to flee but found the exits at the front and rear locked.
One of the people inside, a woman, shouted that she was pregnant and another man, identified to be 27-year-old Houaru Benkada, went to assist her after she was knocked aside by the panicked passengers. The incident left people lying on the floor bloodied and seething in pain as the suspect was quick to make his escape, the New York Times reported.
Related Article:
