COLUMBIA, S.C. — After a recent uptick in shootings, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott and community members are speaking out about efforts to combat gun violence.
Lott explained plans to curb gun violence in the months ahead, following a weekend where there were multiple shootings in both the county and the City of Columbia.
One of the shootings happened Saturday night after St. Patrick’s Day festivities in Five Points, leaving one man injured. Another shooting happened at nightclub Vegas Knights on River Drive, leaving one person dead and two others injured. A third shooting took place at an apartment complex near Columbiana Mall, leaving a man dead on Sunday.
“There was a lot more shootings than four this weekend," Lott said. "I think the City of Columbia had five, and we had about three. Two of those people lost their lives. So it was a wild, wild weekend.”
According to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department's shooting incident report from March 14t there have been 277 total shooting incidents. Four of those shootings resulted in death and 11 resulted in injury. Columbia’s Shooting Dashboard was last updated on March 18.
This has community members calling for action.
“Just an overwhelming sadness of every day, another family, individual, child, even their life being devastated by this ongoing gun violence here in our city, other places as well,” Pastor Eric Fink said.
Fink is with Living Springs Lutheran Church and the vice president of More Justice, a Columbia advocacy group.
“There are underlying issues though that are behind why the shootings are happening,” Fink added.
Lott said there are several factors contributing to the uptick in shootings.
“We’re seeing what everybody else is seeing. It’s an attitude. It’s the attitude of young people with guns, the availability of guns, and the fact that these young people have a gun, and they think it gives them power,” Lott said.
Lott said gun violence prevention is a group effort, and the county is working to make sure the summer doesn’t reflect this past weekend.
“We got summer camps going. The key is keeping young people busy and having something positive for them to do," Lott said. "So we have a lot of summer camps that we’re in the process of organizing.”
Lott said it’s a community responsibility to help make a change for gun violence.