COLUMBIA, S.C. — A 9-year-old child sleeping in his home was injured in a drive-by shooting early Wednesday morning, according to Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott.
The shooting happened around 3 am in the 1000 block of Turtle Stone Road in northeast Richland County, according to Lott, where a number of houses were struck by gunfire.
The 9-year-old, who was hit by a stray bullet and is expected to survive, was not the intended target, Lott said.
It's the second drive -by shooting that has occurred in the neighborhood this year. The first was back in March, according to Lott. No arrests were made in that shooting, which is still "a very active investigation," Lott said.
"These cowards who ride through neighborhoods and shoot at each other and end up shooting innocent people, they're gonna be arrested
Lott said residents of the area are very upset, "and they should be."
"One, it's not acceptable. And it's not gonna be tolerated, and somebody's, some people are going to jail, whoever's responsible.
Lott, who speculated those responsible are likely young people, said, "They don't care."
"When they spray those bullets, they don't care what's behind it," Lott said. "They don't care, they just shoot bullets, and this is the result of it. That's why they need to be caught and that's why they need to be held accountable."
Lott said he hopes the court system will also hold those responsible accountable as well. :They need to be presented in the way that they are, and that's a bunch of cowards shooting bullets and innocent people getting hit."
When asked the possibility getting ShotSpotter technology in the neighborhood, Lott cited the tremendous cost involved. However, he said the area will be getting cameras, which "will probably help us more than the ShotSpotter would help us in cases like this." The cameras should be up in a couple of weeks, according to Lott.
Lott said the top three problems the county has is, "Kids with guns, kids with guns, kids with guns."
These kids have guns and they don't care," Lott said. That's the biggest, scariest thing about this is they don't care. We catch them, they don't care."
"We got to educate them that a gun not's gonna get you but one of two places - either the cemetery or prison," Lott said. "We're gonna lose a generation of young people to gun violence. They're either gonna be in prison or they're gonna be in the cemetery. That's got to stop."
If you have any information about either shooting, deputies ask you to contact Crimestoppers anonymously in any of the following ways:
- Call 888-CRIME-SC (888-274-6372).
- Use the P3 Tips mobile app.
- LOG ON to www.midlandscrimestoppers.com, and click on the red “Submit a Tip” tab.