LANCASTER, S.C. — The Lancaster County Sheriff's Office and the State Law Enforcement Division are investigating after they said a man was shot in the head Wednesday night and later died.
Resident Roger Harris told Channel 9 he heard a gunshot around 8 p.m. and found a young man in his yard off 16th Street in Lancaster, bleeding from his head.
Harris said he usually lets people play basketball in his backyard, and assumed that’s what a group of men were doing when the shot rang out.
“I don’t know all of them, but I knew the one that got shot,” Harris said.
Harris called police and stayed with the victim until deputies arrived.
“[I] called 911, and he was trying to get up,” Harris said. “I kept telling him, don’t move, don’t move. Wait till the police get here and everything.”
According to Harris, the men who were with the victim fled after the shooting.
“Everybody had fled,” Harris said. “They were just running.”
Responding deputies found the victim, a 29-year-old man, lying on the edge of the street with an apparent gunshot wound. He was transported by Lancaster County Medical Services from the scene and is now in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. The victim died at the hospital Friday morning.
Multiple sources have told Channel 9 that the victim is a close relative of a local law enforcement officer, but the sheriff’s office has not confirmed.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the young man who was injured last night and his family,” said Sheriff Barry Faile. “This is a very active ongoing investigation by two agencies, and we intend to work this case around the clock to determine who is responsible for the horrible injury inflicted upon the victim.”
Investigators interviewed neighbors and remained at the scene until just before dawn. Search warrants have been executed, but no arrests have been made.
The sheriff's office and SLED are continuing to investigate the incident. Sheriff’s deputies have not commented on why state police were called in to help.
A shooting that occurred in the Pleasant Plains Road area of Kershaw on Wednesday evening is also under investigation by the Sheriff's Office. At this time, there is no indication that the two incidents are related.
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