Pair of South Carolina shootings kill 2, wound 17; police investigating possible links
Police say they're investigating both cases as if they're linked
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}South Carolina law enforcement officials are investigating a suspected connection between a pair of shootings that collectively killed two and wounded 17 people others, police told Fox News.
Officials from the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office and the Aiken County Department of Safety said Thursday they are working together in investigating a Saturday night shooting that wounded 18 people, one fatally, in conjunction with a second shooting the next day, when one person was struck and killed.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Police have not confirmed that Saturday morning’s gunfire at Seventh Lounge on Richland Avenue East and Sunday’s evening’s fatal shooting in an apartment complex on Sandpaper Drive are connected, but say they’re investigating both cases as if they’re linked, Aiken Department of Public Safety Captain Marty Sawyer told Fox News.
"We are working them together as it is connected,” Sawyer said.
Shortly after 12:45 a.m. Saturday, police responded to a report of shots fired at Seventh Lounge and arrived to find “several victims,” the sheriff’s office said in a subsequent press release.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Local media report at least three people arrived in a Chevy Tahoe and were seen using a handgun and a rifle to fire shots into the crowd.
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Craig Youmans, 30, was pronounced dead at the scene, while 17 others were wounded, police and local news site The State reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Then, around 7:30 p.m. Sunday and just roughly five miles away, a man identified by The State as 34-year-old TyQuan Graham was found shot and killed inside the Palmetto Crossing apartment complex, The State reported.
Aiken County Sheriff’s Capt. Eric Abdullah told Fox News the office has gathered enough evidence to suggest the nightclub shooting is gang-related.
Aiken Department of Public Safety Chief Charles Barranco stressed to the Aiken Standard that Aiken “is a safe place.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Those folks that are involved in violent crime and their families have a much higher percentage of being a victim of violent crime,” Barranco said, according to the report. “When these folks are out and about, that’s when we have these innocent bystanders that are affected by it.”