COLUMBIA, S.C. — A shooting and stabbing at Sunset Boat Ramp and Park in Newberry County on Saturday night has left one person wounded. Authorities said 911 dispatchers received multiple calls around 7 p.m., prompting a response from deputies, Lake Murray Rescue, and EMS.
“Officers began to respond, then other calls started coming in saying that we had people injured,” Newberry Sheriff Lee Foster said.
Initial reports suggested multiple injuries, but deputies found one victim upon arrival.
“One person has actually been shot and also stabbed," Foster said. "So, he was shot and stabbed, which is kind of unusual, but with the crowd of people that we had down there, we didn't know whether we had multiple offenders or what had taken place.”
Foster said the victim is receiving care and is expected to survive. The sheriff's department has identified some suspects.
Sheriff Foster said investigators believe they know roughly how things happened at the park on Saturday.
“What we found out was that you had a group of people that were on boats that were coming in to dock their boat and then take their boat out," he said. "While they were in the process of doing that, somebody on a jet ski came by and got between them and the landing and sprayed water on everybody."
Foster said authorities believe an argument followed.
"When the boat got on the land, that caused more verbal arguments to take place, and then one thing led to another, and people began fighting,” he said.
Bystanders and witnesses helped deputies identify suspects.
“Right now, we are trying to ascertain who fired the shot, who did the stabbing," Foster said. "We had complaints that there were multiple shots fired, but we can't find evidence that there were multiple shots fired. We only found one shell casing.”
The Sunset Boat Ramp and Park remains open to the public as the Newberry Sheriff’s Department continues its investigation into the incident.