WATCH LIVE: Police to hold news conference on mass shooting at unauthorized SC concert
FIRST ALERT: N. Charleston Police Chief comments on concert shooting
By Lillian Donahue, Riley Bean, and Patrick Phillips | May 23, 2021 at 5:37 AM EDT - Updated May 23 at 1:58 PM
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The North Charleston Police Department plans to hold a news conference Sunday afternoon at the scene of a shooting that left a teen girl dead and 13 others wounded.
Police Chief Reggie Burgess will speak to reporters from the scene of the shooting at 2 p.m.
Deputy Chief Scott Deckard said police responded to the area of Piggly Wiggly Drive and W. Jimtown Drive at around 10:27 p.m. Saturday.
Officers say they reported to the area in reference to a shooting, but when they arrived they found numerous victims suffering from gunshot wounds.
Deckard says preliminary information is that a fight broke out near the stage during an unannounced and unauthorized concert event within the neighborhood. He says NCPD was not notified of the event.
Gunshots rang out after the fight, investigators say.
Deckard confirmed a total of 14 victims, one of whom, a 14-year-old girl, died form her injuries.
The coroner?s office has not yet released the victim?s identity.
The victims were transported to local hospitals and Deckard says several other victims were located at area hospitals, after they were transported by others.
North Charleston Police are actively investigating the incident, but there isn?t any suspect information at this point in the investigation.
Reverend Elden Heyward is a pastor at a neighboring church and he says he is surprised by the violence next door.
?It?s shocking, unexpected as always but these things happen and it doesn?t matter what neighborhood or where you are. It?s a tragedy so what do we do?? Heyward said. ?We prayed for the community, for healing. How do we move on? We have to move on, accept what we cannot change. The sad part is how do you comfort people??
Dalonzo Gibson was a witness who heard the gunshots and he says he first thought they were fireworks.
?I was sitting on the porch and talking to one of my friends and I heard a series of shots, at first I thought it was just fireworks,? Gibson said. ?But then when I heard retaliation with an additional gun, because it sounded different, I knew they were guns.?
Heyward?s says his remorse rests in the community as a whole, even the perpetrators.
?When they catch the people who did this, the persons, it?s still a great tragedy, a sadness that is never going to be fulfilled,? Heyward said. ?It?s heartbreaking, it?s heartbreaking and as a pastor I am confronted with the situations constantly. The devil is busy, he doesn?t care about God?s house, God?s holy ground.?
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
guys, i think jim might be alive
Linear Mode
