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following the story of Richland County: Shocking Teen Gun Violence Caught on Camera #newstoday
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0:00
In disbelief, I urge them to find Christ
0:02
and embrace love over violence. So
0:04
thankful
0:05
that Richland County is a praying
0:08
community because only by the grace of
0:10
God, I'm not standing up here talking
0:12
about 20 or 30 kids uh that were killed.
0:16
And this has happened for the last two
0:18
years and right up until this past week,
0:21
the same thing where we've had multiple
0:24
shots being fired at events. I go back
0:27
to April 29th, 2023 at Metal Lakes where
0:31
a group of people with guns shooting at
0:33
people made arrest in that last year on
0:36
May 28th, the village of Lakeshore,
0:39
another mass shooting again. And then
0:42
last week at um Columbia Place Mall and
0:45
then the town of Lifewood.
0:49
Um, you know, I've stand up here many
0:51
times and talk about young people with
0:53
guns and how how dangerous they are and
0:57
what we got going on in this community
0:59
and and that's what we had um recently
1:02
last week. We're going to show some
1:04
videos in a minute and they're very
1:07
graphic and they should be because our
1:11
community needs to look at this and be
1:13
shocked on what we've got going on in
1:16
our community. Parents need to look at
1:18
this and be
1:21
shocked and take some
1:23
action. We still have a lot of parents
1:27
out here who are turning a total blind
1:30
eye on what their young people are doing
1:33
with guns and just shooting with total
1:36
disregard for any human life whatsoever.
1:41
Um, I just I stand here and I shake my
1:44
head and I'm just amazed but also very
1:47
thankful
1:49
that we haven't had young people
1:53
killed to the extent that it could have
1:56
been in any of these incidences. I'm
1:59
also standing here thankful for our
2:01
community and those who do care enough
2:03
in this community to make calls and and
2:06
help us out and um give us
2:09
information and for those who are upset
2:12
about what's going on and are doing
2:13
things. But we need more we need more
2:16
people involved. We need more parents
2:19
involved.
2:21
It's it's just unconsionable on some of
2:24
the things that we see and what we're
2:25
going to do. So, we're going to show
2:27
videos and we're going to talk through
2:29
them and we're going to slow them down
2:30
because people need to see. Um, first
2:33
shooting happened Wednesday, April the
2:35
2nd at Columbia Place Mall. And I will
2:38
say this, both of these shootings that
2:40
we're going to discuss, uh, Columbia
2:42
Mall had nothing to do with it. Town of
2:45
Blewood had nothing to do with it. I
2:46
don't think I don't want people to blame
2:49
what's going on on either one of these
2:51
places. Uh, the responsibility goes on
2:54
the shooters. It's not on the locations.
2:57
And I see think sometimes we want to
2:58
blame the locations for something
3:00
happening and that's not true. And these
3:03
cases here, this just is where the
3:05
shootings happen. And you'll just see
3:08
how those involved just did not care one
3:12
bit. So the first one happened at
3:14
Columbia Place Mall um Wednesday a
3:17
little bit over a week ago about 3:30
3:19
where we get a call. There was shooting
3:21
going on in the mall. This is one of the
3:24
stores in the mall. This a typical
3:26
store. People in People in their
3:39
shop.
3:41
Stop. I want you to see this lady in
3:45
this baby in this stroller. She's just a
3:47
shopper. has nothing to do with anything
3:50
except she's in there shopping and she's
3:53
caught in the middle of a gunfight and
3:56
those who are firing those rounds have
3:58
absolutely no concern for her safety or
4:01
that baby's safety whatsoever. I applaud
4:04
her. You're going to see as this video
4:06
goes how she protects her child. That is
4:09
a mother. That's what a parent does. But
4:12
the action she's taken, but she and that
4:14
baby, hopefully the baby's not old
4:16
enough to realize, but they'll be
4:18
traumatized forever.
4:25
Continue. There's shooting going on as
4:28
she's laying there right
4:38
now. I want everybody to look at that. I
4:40
want parents in the community to look at
4:43
that young lady right there and that
4:45
baby from the danger that they're being
4:48
subjected to. There's shooting going on.
4:50
There's a shootout going on right now
4:52
and they're absolutely in the middle of
4:54
it. Play the video.
5:20
These are the bad guys. That's team B.
5:24
Three of them in team B. One in team
5:27
A. Look at the guns coming out. Look at
5:30
the shooting they're doing.
5:37
She's over here laying on the floor as
5:38
they're
5:39
shooting. Bullets hitting here. Bullets
5:42
hitting
5:47
everywhere. Here they are. Run out.
5:49
Stop. We go back. Continue. Just keep
5:52
continuing. Keep it
5:54
going. I three of them have got guns.
5:56
They've already shot at the individual
5:58
they were shooting at. So team A has one
6:01
person. Team B has three people. But you
6:03
have a baby and a lady caught in the
6:06
middle. And you have another gentleman
6:08
who's out in the mall who's nothing but
6:10
a shopper just there shopping. He's
6:13
caught in the middle of the gunfire. He
6:15
gets he gets
6:22
shot. Here they are coming in the store.
6:24
There she is coming in the store.
6:27
Gentleman that shot walking
6:30
out.
6:35
Here we go. Shooting. Bullets hitting
6:39
here. Bullets hitting over there.
6:42
Gentleman shot over
6:46
here. And here they go running out. All
6:49
with the
6:57
guns. These are the three we're looking
6:59
at. May be hard to see. That is a long
7:02
gun. That's not a pistol. These two
7:04
still got pistols. This one has a long
7:06
gun. Some type of rifle. Now, I know we
7:09
all go shopping carrying a rifle, but
7:12
that's what they're carrying. That's
7:14
what they're these are the three that
7:17
we're looking at. This is these three
7:18
are on team B that we're still looking
7:21
for. Team A got arrested.
7:25
He was shot, ended up in the hospital in
7:28
Orangeburg where he told a lie on how he
7:31
had uh had a self-inflicted gun wound u
7:34
which we proved the different because he
7:36
had the same clothes on at the hospital
7:38
that he had when the shooting happened.
7:40
That's what he's charged with at this
7:42
time. So, we're continuing to work this
7:45
one week after the shooting. One week.
7:49
We already made one arrest on this and
7:51
we'll continue to make arrest on this.
7:54
Probably at least 25 shots were fired in
7:58
the
8:00
[Music]
8:02
mall. Shooting in Blewood Saturday 2:00
8:07
a.m.
8:09
200 kids, young people in town of
8:13
Blewood. We have a shooting. It starts
8:15
off
8:16
with what we call popup parties. This is
8:20
the uh social media that went out. Bring
8:23
your own booze. Bring your own weed.
8:26
Bring your own weed. Drugs. This is the
8:30
party. This is where it started. Starts
8:33
at a
8:34
house. Then it goes from there. And
8:37
these kids then, not just a small group,
8:40
large group. 200 of them end up in
8:42
Blewood. I want people to watch. This is
8:45
probably only not even half. This is a
8:48
quarter of the kids. These are three
8:49
different location. The Waffle House,
8:52
Car Wash, and a gas station that they
8:54
invaded the town of Blewood. And I want
8:57
you to watch this video and see them run
9:02
when the gun
9:03
[Music]
9:08
start. Hear the shots.
9:13
[Music]
9:32
You let me know where you can stand.
9:48
over 60 rounds were fired. And we're
9:52
going to play just the sound. I want you
9:54
to I want people to listen to the
9:56
shooting that's going on. How many shots
9:58
are
9:59
[Music]
10:05
fired? Number
10:12
[Music]
10:28
[Music]
10:37
[Music]
10:57
This is something you'd expect to hear
10:58
in Iraq or Afghanistan during the war.
11:02
This is in Blewood. This is town of
11:05
Blewood. This was a war zone that these
11:07
kids turned the town of Blewood into.
11:11
We're going to play this video here.
11:13
You'll watch these individuals here.
11:14
You'll see them all pull their guns
11:22
out. Guns. Guns. Shooting.
11:35
We let this video out um a few days ago.
11:39
This happened on the 5th. Put the video
11:41
out on the 8th and on the
11:44
10th we made a first first two arrests
11:47
were
11:50
made. 18 years old high school student
11:54
in high school currently.
11:57
18 years old in high
12:00
school. There was kids from
12:06
Colombia, Camden, Casey, Blewood, 200 of
12:13
them. There was an individual there that
12:15
we've recognized that had an ankle
12:17
monitor on who was out on bond for
12:19
murder.
12:20
This was the type of
12:22
individuals that took over the town of
12:25
Blewood this past
12:27
weekend. Now, as you see, we're already
12:31
making arrest and we're going to
12:33
continue to make
12:34
arrest until everybody that was
12:37
responsible was caught.
12:40
What I'm asking is parents who see this
12:45
video, recognize your child, know your
12:47
child was there, you need to contact us
12:50
because if you don't, then at 4:00 in
12:53
the morning, you're going to get a knock
12:54
on your
12:56
door and somebody's going to go to jail.
12:59
I'm going to call out one call out one
13:01
vehicle that was there. Black Maserati
13:03
was there that was involved. Now, I
13:06
don't think any of these kids probably
13:08
owned the Maserati. So, that belongs to
13:10
a
13:11
parent. That parent and that kid who's
13:14
driving that car needs to come in cuz
13:16
we're going to find you, too. It's just
13:19
a matter of
13:20
time. I've talked up here before and I
13:23
continue to talk about these guns. I'm
13:26
going to get you in one or two places,
13:27
either in the cemetery or in prison.
13:31
We're very fortunate that we don't have
13:34
anybody going to the cemetery, but we
13:36
got a lot of kids and a lot of young
13:37
people who are going to be arrested and
13:40
we're going to continue to find them.
13:41
Our investigators have done a great job.
13:44
The community has done a great job, the
13:46
ones that's helped us out. Town of
13:48
Blewood has helped us out with uh
13:51
cameras that they had. Um you had
13:53
numerous businesses that were shot up.
13:56
You had vehicles that were shot up. We
13:58
had a a young lady that was shot in a
14:01
car driving, leaving, she was shot. So,
14:04
we had someone
14:06
shot. Over 60 rounds, you heard them.
14:09
Over 60 rounds were fired.
14:13
So, the message
14:15
today is either come in or we're coming
14:18
to get you. Plain and simple, we're
14:21
going to come get you. Not only are we
14:23
sick and tired of what we just shown
14:25
that happened at Columbia Place Mall in
14:27
Blewood, I hope this community is
14:30
shocked enough to be sick of it, too.
14:33
When you watch these videos, you watch
14:35
that mom laying on the floor protecting
14:38
her child because these crazies are
14:42
running around here want to be
14:43
gangsters. You know, they big and bad
14:46
when they're out like that, but they
14:47
ain't big and bad when we go lock them
14:48
up at four o'clock in the morning. It's
14:50
a big difference then.
14:52
But when they're out there like that and
14:53
you got innocent people caught in, they
14:55
don't care. They don't
14:57
care. Questions. Was the Columbia Mall
15:01
shooting an isolated event? Yeah, these
15:04
people knew each other. It was team A
15:06
against team B, team B against team A,
15:08
however you want to say it. Yes, they
15:10
knew each other. So, it was very
15:12
isolated.
15:13
This is the second mall shooting that
15:15
we've had in the last couple of years.
15:16
Do you think I mean I know obviously the
15:18
blame is on the suspects but do we need
15:20
to up security at the malls? No, this
15:22
that's not the mall's fault. Don't have
15:24
anything to do with the malls. You know,
15:26
it has to do with these people in here
15:27
with guns who just don't care. But you
15:30
also saw the sentences that people got
15:33
uh in Lexington County for the Colombana
15:36
shooting, how many years that they're
15:38
going away for. I mean, that same thing
15:40
needs to happen with these cases, too.
15:43
You know, again, sometimes the only way
15:46
to protect the community is put people
15:48
behind bars and keep them there. And
15:51
that's where some of these people
15:52
deserve to be. Okay. As far as the the
15:55
mall property, I know Rich County is
15:57
going to be moving some some county
15:58
offices and things there um in the
16:00
future. In your opinion, is that area
16:03
can you judge the safety of that area?
16:05
And do you think that increased patrols
16:07
um would do anything to to help anything
16:09
there? No, I mean
16:11
again there's deputies riding through
16:13
there all the time. We have two offices
16:15
right across from the mall. We have a
16:17
gym across from the mall that the uh the
16:20
visibility us being there is a lot. So
16:24
again, don't you can't blame us on the
16:26
malls. Can't blame it on the town of
16:28
Blewood. You saw 200 kids invade the
16:30
town of Blewood. You saw a bunch of
16:32
punks go into Columbia Mall with their
16:34
guns. Long guns stuck in your pants. you
16:38
carrying it around and you're in a store
16:41
that Yeah,
16:42
that's you can't blame it on them. We
16:45
need to stop blaming these p places and
16:47
putting all the responsibility on them
16:49
and put it on these people who got these
16:51
guns who are shooting. That's who we
16:53
need to focus on.
16:55
As far as the the popup parties and kind
16:57
of the mob mentality, I know Blackwood's
16:59
had to deal with that a couple of times
17:00
here the last month. Um, is there
17:02
anything that your investigators can do
17:04
to monitor social media channels or try
17:06
and infiltrate um and get a better
17:08
handle on on when those pop-up parties
17:10
are going to be organized um so that uh
17:12
you can kind of hand those off?
17:15
We do as much as we can, but these are
17:18
instantaneous. That's why they call
17:20
pop-up parties. It happens that quick.
17:24
You put it out on social media, here
17:26
where we're going, everybody shows up.
17:28
So, you know,
17:30
um, again, put it on the kids, put on
17:34
these people that are doing this this
17:35
stuff, not not on us, not on the
17:38
innocent businesses, you know, put it on
17:40
the people that deserves to have the
17:42
blame put on them. At the town council
17:44
meeting yesterday, the Blackwood County
17:46
Councilman councilman, he mentioned that
17:48
it's hard to patrol ordering because of
17:51
lack of resources. Do you see Blackwood
17:53
in enforcing a curfew in the future?
17:56
I've had discussions with the mayor um
17:59
about that. They're exploring that
18:01
possibility and if they pass an
18:04
ordinance establishes a curfew then
18:07
we'll be there to help enforce it. Do
18:09
you think the town of Blackwood needs
18:10
their own police department?
18:13
No. We got a headquarters right there in
18:14
the town of Blackwood.
18:18
Again, y'all are looking at the wrong
18:20
people. Look at these 200 kids. Look at
18:22
these people with the guns. That's who
18:24
we need to be looking at. You know, we
18:27
can't put a deputy sheriff on every
18:28
street corner. That's not possible. But
18:30
there's some parents can keep these kids
18:32
butts where they need to be instead of
18:34
two o'clock in the morning run around
18:35
here with a gun and shooting. That's
18:38
what we need to focus on. That's who we
18:40
need to be uh putting the blame on.
18:44
Any idea where the um you know where the
18:46
kids are are getting some of these guns?
18:48
Um
18:50
guns are all over the place. Stolen
18:52
guns. Uh the gun some of the guns that
18:54
we got recovered so far have been stolen
18:56
guns. You know, people leave guns in the
18:59
car or vehicles don't lock them. Kids go
19:02
through neighborhoods at night and open
19:04
doors and get the guns out and then they
19:06
end up on the street. We've done better.
19:08
Our community has done better. One of
19:11
our community action team deputies came
19:13
up one of the best slogans I ever heard.
19:15
Your vehicle is not a holster. Don't
19:16
leave your gun in it. And that's so
19:19
true. And we've done, our community's
19:21
done better, but we still need to do
19:23
even better. But the gun, it's the the
19:26
guns are there. We got to change the
19:28
minds and hearts of these kids. You
19:31
watch these so-called gangsters run
19:33
around here with these guns shooting.
19:36
Could care less where the bullets are
19:37
going. They're just they're shooting.
19:39
They're just shooting. You ask them
19:41
where what are you shooting at? I'm just
19:43
shooting. I'm shooting in the direction
19:45
where people are.
19:47
That's that's God's the only thing
19:49
that's protected these kids from getting
19:51
these bullets in their bodies.
19:54
What would you say to address I mean I
19:56
guess the revolving door that we have.
19:57
You said one of the suspects was out on
19:59
bond for murder. Um
20:03
I think that speaks to the crack that we
20:05
got in our system. Here's somebody out
20:07
on bond on murder with an ankle monitor
20:09
and you see he's out here involved in
20:11
something that's going on like this.
20:15
you kill somebody and deserve to be back
20:17
on the street and you're doing things
20:19
like this. You know,
20:21
again, we can only worry about what we
20:24
can control and what we control is
20:26
putting their butts in jail and locking
20:27
them up. What happens to them after
20:29
that, that's out of our control. The
20:32
rest rest of the systems got to do their
20:34
part. There were over 200 young people
20:37
there. A lot of young people don't want
20:39
to involve themselves in, I guess,
20:41
snitching culture. What would you tell
20:42
parents that have young people that
20:44
might have been there that might have
20:45
seen or knew these people or get help in
20:47
the future? Well, be lucky you didn't
20:50
get shot with a bullet. Next time you
20:52
won't be
20:53
lucky. So, is it snitching or is it
20:56
protecting your life and somebody else's
20:58
life? You know, are you are you a snitch
21:02
when you see something like that and
21:03
somebody's throwing You saw these kids
21:05
run out of their
21:07
shoes. You saw them just how scared they
21:10
looked.
21:11
You know, that should be fear enough to
21:13
want to be part of the solution, not
21:14
part of the
21:15
problem. All right. Thank y'all.