BLYTHEWOOD – During a press conference Tuesday, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott confirmed that a third teen, a girl, was shot during a bonfire party in Blythewood on Oct. 31. The incident occurred in the 11,000 block of Wilson Blvd. (Hwy. 21) near Gunter Circle on Halloween night.
He said there were an estimated 500 – 800 teens at the bonfire.
“It’s tragic that we cannot have large gatherings of teenagers without somebody pulling a gun out and shooting,” Lott said. He said three people were shot – two female victims, 16 and 17, and a male victim, 17 years old – and that all survived.
“We’d already publicized two, but a second female was found shot the next day,” he said, adding that numerous teens were injured in the melee trying to get away from the bullets that were fired from a nearby woods.
“So those numerous parents whose child got to come home that night, you need to thank somebody higher up for that,” Lott said. “We’re just very fortunate, by the grace of God, that we don’t have a lot of kids killed.” He added, “Parents, it’s your responsibility to know where your teenagers are at.”
Lott said the party was not a group of friends getting together. He showed the invitation that was posted on social media, “inviting everybody who sees it just to come,” he said. The fliers stated: ‘We’re out here until they shut us down.’
“It was an invitation for anybody to show up, and they did,” he said. “We estimate 500-800 kids were there. Just imagine that number of unsupervised teenagers drinking alcohol, smoking dope, and that’s what they were doing. And then people pull out guns, and bullets start flying,” he said.
“Our initial call was at about 10:15 p.m., a call of noise ordinance, loud noises, loud music. We responded, talked to the parent who lived at the [address] where the party was …about 20 minutes later, we received calls of shots fired,” Lott said.
“Virtually every deputy in Richland County responded to that call,” he said. “So, the rest of Richland County was pretty much uncovered because of what we had to respond to.”
Lott said he thinks it’s a shame that this event happened, that there are adults that condoned this and didn’t stand up and stop it. He said the adult that was there was helping direct the cars into the party area.
“To those who put this on, you bear responsibility of it, too,” he said.
Lott said to the teens who were there taking videos, “…we need those videos so we can get more evidence that will lock those up that were responsible.
“This is a community effort, and we’re asking the community to be part of the solution, not part of the problem,” Lott said.
“We do have evidence. Our investigators are working on it. I’m very confident we’re gonna make some arrests,” he said.
“My main concern right now is to identify those that did the shooting,” Lott said. “The shooters don’t know what we know until we knock on their door about four o’clock in the morning and put them in handcuffs.”
Lott asks that anyone with information on this shooting contact RCSD at 803-576-3000 or provide an anonymous tip through CrimeStoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.
RCSD investigators and the Crime Scene Unit responded to the scene to investigate. This investigation is ongoing. If you have any information regarding this incident, call RCSD at 803-576-3000 or submit a tip through CrimeStoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.