ABBEVILLE, S.C. — A man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for shooting and paralyzing someone who was trying to break up a fight between people watching a football game, a prosecutor said.
Reginald De’Aron Campbell, 24, was convicted Thursday of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature after an Abbeville County trial, 8th Circuit Solicitor David Stumbo said in a news release.
Campbell was at a restaurant watching Clemson play Ohio State in the college football playoffs in December 2019 when he and some friends started arguing with someone at the bar, Stumbo said.
They started to fight outside the bar, and Campbell blindsided someone trying to break up the fight, causing the bystander's head to hit a brick wall, the prosecutor said.
Campbell then shot the bystander after the man slumped on him and they fell to the ground, Stumbo said.
The bullet damaged the bystander's spine and he remains paralyzed, the prosecutor said.
Campbell was initially charged with attempted murder, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser offense.
