Violent Newberry rival groups clashed in Columbia’s Vista over music industry disputes

An ongoing music industry-related rivalry between two “very violent” Newberry County groups led to Saturday’s shootout in the Vista that injured eight, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said Monday.

The names and origins of the groups and what precisely precipitated the shooting outside of the Empire Supper Club remain unclear.

Lott and Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook have said the groups are not gangs – just rivals.

“They are two groups that are not associated with traditional gangs,” Lott said. “But they are rival groups that are related to the music industry and clubs that are engaged in violence.”

He declined to be more specific.

Columbia police spokeswoman Jennifer Timmons would say only that the motive in the shooting remains under investigation.

The groups have been at odds for about a year, said Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster. Investigators at the sheriff’s office, along with counterparts in the Newberry city police department, have been trying to make cases related to other crimes, including shootings, Foster said.

“It’s been very difficult ... the victims in many of the cases refuse to cooperate,” Foster said. “And anybody who may know who (the shooters are) will not come forward in an official capacity because of fear of them.”

Part of the group, for example, shot a man on Sept. 7, Foster said. The man only suffered a contact wound, and he said he didn’t know who did it.

“These are dangerous people,” Foster said. “They’ve become rivals. And they get their hands on guns, and they think that’s the answer.”

John Earl Bates, 28, who has an extensive criminal history, also was arrested in 2012 on a charge of attempted murder, according to his police record. Though he was part of the crowd causing the melee, Foster said Bates was not the person who pulled the trigger, so the charge was dismissed.

That danger spilled into the Vista when Bates rolled down the window of a dark-colored Ford Mustang and shot at a crowd leaving the club at the corner of Lady and Park streets Saturday around 2:10 a.m., according to warrants.

Maleik Houseal, 22, is accused of firing, too, telling authorities he shot in self-defense. Both men have been charged, with Bates facing seven counts of attempted murder.

Bates shot Houseal and his brother, according to warrants.

Before Bates was captured, he made it to the Vault, a club on Broad River Road, where he was injured by gunfire around 5 a.m., Lott said Monday. Someone then drove Bates in the same Mustang seen at both clubs to the hospital and dropped him off.

Newberry Police Chief Roy McClurkin said the rival groups have had incidents against each other in what they consider their turf in the city and county.

“It’s a problem and we’re working on the problem,” McClurkin said.

The Mustang and a four-door black BMW 3-series are still both sought by police. Columbia police investigators said the BMW has a South Carolina plate, NLB-507, while the Ford Mustang had paper tags. Two other vehicles that police say were involved have been seized.

Among those shot in the Vista is Houseal’s brother, Khali Houseal, according to the warrants that accuse Bates of seven counts of attempted murder.

Also injured is the niece of Rep. Leon Howard, D-Richland.

“Her life will never be the same,” Howard said of niece Kristie Logan, 26, who he described as traumatized.

Logan and a friend were celebrating with coworkers when gunfire erupted, he said.

Logan has a 4-year-old daughter, who is now being cared for by relatives, Howard said.

This story was originally published September 18, 2017 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Violent Newberry rival groups clashed in Columbia’s Vista over music industry disputes."