FORT MILL, S.C. — A Charlotte man is charged with firing a gun near an Interstate 77 overpass in Fort Mill, where dozens of supporters of President Donald Trump were gathered Monday.
The crowd, which included children, was waving flags on the Sutton Road overpass. Others were driving in their cars back and forth across the bridge with Trump flags flying from their windows.
Witnesses told Channel 9′s South Carolina bureau reporter Greg Suskin someone in a red car screamed profanities before opening fire on the group as they drove along Sutton Road.
According to police, witnesses said three men drove by on the bridge several times yelling obscenities at them. They said as the vehicle turned on to the ramp to northbound I-77, the driver continued yelling before putting his arm out the window and firing several shots. The car then sped on to the interstate.
Angie Freeman said the gathering was a family event and that she was in the parade of cars when the gunfire erupted.
“Everybody was cutting up and having fun and laughing and everybody on 77 was blowing the horns and waving,” she said. “We had all the windows down because we had all the flags out the windows, and it was very loud and it was four or five shots.”
“You could tell that they slowed down and I just heard, like, ‘Da da da,’ you know just three rapid, what definitely sounded like gunfire,” said another Trump supporter, Shawna Winter. “I think it’s a shame that we can’t show our support for our president.”
Freeman said her first concern was for the children standing with their families on the bridge and told Channel 9 she was grateful that a state trooper was on the bridge at the time and heard the shots.
“Luckily, he was right there and flipped around, and they pointed him towards the car,” she said.
Authorities followed the driver and later found the shooter’s vehicle abandoned on Gold Hill Road and Deerfield Drive.
As they investigated, officers said they spotted someone who matched the shooter’s description in another car with two men. They stopped the car and questioned the men, which led to the arrest of 23-year-old Marquise Damarius Asomani. The two other men were released without charges.
Asomani was charged with six counts of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, one count of unlawful carrying of a pistol, one count of pointing and presenting firearms at a person and possession of a firearm during a violent crime.
No injuries were reported.
The Trump supporters said the incident was disturbing, but it won't scare them off.
“This is not gonna stop me from supporting him, and it’s not gonna stop me from flying my flag again,” Winter said.
This is an ongoing investigation. Check back with wsoctv.com for more information.
This browser does not support the video element.