COLUMBIA, S.C. — Richland County deputies have arrested two teens in connection with the shooting of nine people at a Columbia party, but the sheriff said they are looking for still more people out there responsible for the crime.
Sheriff Leon Lott held a rare evening news conference Wednesday to announce two 16-year-olds had been taken into custody for Saturday's Meadowlake Park shooting. He said they will be charged with attempted murder and face charges as adults. Both are now being held at the Richland County jail.
According to Lott, his agency was investigating the two in connection with another shooting and had not developed them as suspects in this case.
"They were not on our radar for this shooting," Lott said.
Deputies had gotten a warrant to search their home as part of that probe and officers said they said they found guns at the house on Wednesday morning. Lott said ballistic tests that came back hours later matched at least one of the weapons to the Meadowlake shooting.
Lott said at this point it's not clear how many people are involved but that his agency is working to track the others responsible down. He said according to witnesses, several of the shooters were wearing ski masks.
The shooting took place around 1 a.m. Saturday morning at the park, which is located on Beckman Road just off Wilson Boulevard. Deputies had gotten a call about a large crowd in that area, and when they went to the scene to check out the report they only found a handful of people still there. However, there were multiple gun casings.
At the same time, they then began getting reports that 11 people had shown up at local hospitals. Nine of those had gunshot wounds while one had been hit by a car and another had a hand injury.
As of Wednesday night, Lott said some of the victims were still in the hospital.
According to Lott, there was what's known as a "flash party" at the park, which was closed at the time. The sheriff said it appears to have started at an AirBnB in Hopkins and then moved to another park before ultimately ending at Meadowlake Park.
An audio recording found on social media and released by the sheriff on Monday gave some indication of the severity of the incident. In the recording, Lott said over 50 rounds could be heard going off, including what sounded like fully automatic gunfire.
Two men were arrested in the hours after the shooting, but neither was charged with firing a weapon. Miquise Fulwiley and Ty'Quan Kelly were both charged with unlawful possession of a weapon after they were pulled over by deputies who said the pair failed to stop for them. Lott said a gun was thrown out of a car window during that incident.
Lott said he's been encouraged by the number of tips that have come in about the case, particularly young people. He's encouraging others to come forward.
Anyone with information about the case to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC or CrimeSC.com. Callers can remain anonymous.