Authorities in South Carolina are investigating a shooting early Sunday at a nightclub that left at least nine people injured. It was the state’s second mass shooting of the Easter holiday weekend, and the third nationwide.
At least 31 people were injured in the shootings in South Carolina and Pittsburgh, which resulted in the deaths of two youngsters early Sunday.
According to an email from South Carolina’s State Law Enforcement Division, which is investigating the shooting at Cara’s Lounge in Hampton County, some 80 miles (130 kilometers) west of Charleston, no one was killed. The nightclub’s phone number was unanswered.
Shots were fired at a party at a short-term rental apartment in Pittsburgh, killing two male teens and injuring at least eight others. According to the city’s Police Chief Scott Schubert, the “great majority” of the hundreds of persons at the party were under the age of 21. Jaiden Brown and Mathew Steffy-Ross, both 17, were identified as the two victims by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Police were reviewing evidence at as many as eight separate crime scenes covering a few streets around the rental home, according to Schubert. Investigators think there were multiple shooters.
The two shootings occurred just one day after gunfire erupted at a busy mall in Columbia, South Carolina’s state capital, approximately 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of the nightclub shooting on Sunday. Columbia Police Chief W.H. “Skip,” Holbrook said Saturday that nine persons were shot and five others were injured while attempting to flee the scene at the Columbiana Centre. The victims were between the ages of 15 and 73. None of the injuries were life-threatening.
“We don’t think this happened by chance,” Holbrook added. “We believe they knew each other and that the gunshot was caused by something.”
Jewayne M. Price, 22, is the only person arrested in connection with the mall shooting so far. He was one of three people first detained by law enforcement as a person of interest. Todd Rutherford, Price’s attorney, informed news outlets on Sunday that his client discharged a revolver at the mall in self-defense. Price faces a charge of unlawfully carrying a pistol, according to Rutherford, because he legally owned his gun but did not have a license to carry it.
On Sunday, a judge agreed to release Price out on a $25,000 surety bail, according to Columbia police. According to authorities, he was to be placed under home arrest with an ankle monitor.
“He did it without provocation.” According to WMBF-TV, Rutherford stated, “He phoned the police, turned himself in, turned over the pistol that was used in this, and gave a statement to the Columbia Police Department.” “That’s why he was released on a $25,000 bond.”
Price will be allowed to travel from home to work within specific hours each day, according to police. Price is not allowed to contact the victims or anyone else who was involved in the shooting.
Residents of South Carolina who are 21 years old or older can obtain a firearms permit, which allows them to carry weapons openly or hidden as of last year. They must complete an eight-hour firearms course and pass a background check that involves fingerprinting.
In addition to the three major shootings over the Easter weekend, there has been further gun violence in recent days. A gunman opened fire in a New York subway car last week, hurting ten passengers. The next day, a suspect was apprehended. Six people were killed and 12 others were injured in a shooting between rival gangs in Sacramento, California, earlier this month, as bars closed in the busy downtown neighborhood only blocks from the state Capitol.
A man and a woman were killed and ten people were injured in a shooting inside a crowded nightclub in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a week ago. Last month, ten individuals were shot, and several more were injured while attempting to flee a spring break party in Dallas.
