‘I’m gonna be OK’: Mother injured in Vista shooting recalls violent night, recovery
It’s difficult for Kristie Logan to answer her 5-year-old daughter’s questions about the night Logan and seven other people were shot in the Vista – in part because she, too, has questions.
“I wanted to have some confirmation on what happened, see if anybody could get any answers for what happened,” Logan said after a preliminary hearing Monday for Maleik Houseal, one of four Newberry County men charged in the shooting.
Leaning on crutches outside Columbia Municipal Court on Monday, her right leg wrapped in a brace, Logan discussed how her recovery has gone during the past month.
“It’s been up and down,” she said. “Some days, it’s really good and then some days it’s hard, mentally and physically.”
Logan, 26, is the niece of state Rep. Leon Howard, D-Richland. She was one of eight people injured in a shootout that rocked Columbia’s popular Vista district in the early hours of Sept. 16.
Investigators say the shooting was prompted by an ongoing music industry-related feud. A municipal judge ruled Monday that there was probable cause for prosecutors to proceed with their case against Houseal, 22, on charges of unlawful possession of a pistol and possession of a weapon by a person convicted of a violent crime.
Houseal has a previous conviction for first-degree burglary.
After leaving her job at a credit union that Friday evening, Logan said she went to visit her father and then to a friend’s home. They went out in the Vista that night, first to Wet Willie’s and then to the Empire Supper Club at Park and Lady streets.
They had just left the club and were walking down Park Street when gunfire erupted.
“As soon as we started walking across the street, we heard noises,” she said. “I felt something going down my leg.”
Logan said she didn’t realize at the time that she had been shot. Despite being shot in the leg, she still was able to walk to safety and wait for paramedics.
“I didn’t really think about it then,” she said. “I think about it a lot now because it has affected me in my every day routine. Then, I didn’t think about it at all. I just wanted to get help.”
Logan underwent surgery right after the shooting. Unable to drive or work, she needs help getting to and from physical therapy sessions three times a week, washing and moving around.
“She’s really upset,” Logan said of her 5-year-old daughter. “She has a lot of questions, but she’s so young that I don’t know how to really respond with them. So I just tell her I’m gonna be OK.”
Details about the shooting and what prompted it remain murky.
Houseal, who also faces a federal gun charge, was shot in the lower body, Columbia police investigator Wayne Montgomery said Monday. He was brought into Monday’s hearing in a wheelchair. His brother, Khali Houseal, also was shot but has not been charged.
Federal court documents say gunshots were fired at Maleik Houseal from a Ford Mustang and a Ford Crown Victoria that pulled onto Park Street from a parking area between the Empire club and Art Bar, and that Houseal returned fire.
“He returns fire (and) either shoots himself or gets shot,” Montgomery said.
Investigators say the brothers were the intended targets of the gunfire. Montgomery said Houseal was seen on surveillance footage carrying a pistol and adjusting it in his waist band before the shooting.
“He felt threatened,” Montgomery said. “He indicated during his interview (with police) that someone pointed and presented a firearm at him prior to the actual shooting.”
This story was originally published October 23, 2017 at 3:35 PM with the headline "‘I’m gonna be OK’: Mother injured in Vista shooting recalls violent night, recovery."