Fifth suspect charged in Vista shooting that injured 9

Columbia police have charged a fifth man in connection with a September shooting that injured nine people in the Vista district.

Jenorris Alexander Lartman, 27, was charged with seven counts of attempted murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and possession of a weapon by a person convicted of a felony, the Columbia Police Department said in a news release Thursday. He is expected at a bond hearing Friday morning.

Lartman was injured in the gun battle that rocked the popular entertainment district in the early hours of Sept. 16, and was charged after being released from the hospital Thursday, Columbia police spokeswoman Jennifer Timmons said. He is the fifth person charged in connection with the shooting.

Lartman faces up to 30 years in prison for each attempted murder charge, under South Carolina law.

Gunfire erupted just after 2 a.m. on Sept. 16 outside the Empire Supper Club at the corner of Park and Lady streets. Within hours of the shooting, Columbia police Chief Skip Holbrook declared the nightclub a public nuisance and shut it down.

John Earl Bates Jr., 27, was arrested shortly after the shooting on seven counts of attempted murder and Keveas Gallman, 28, was charged with one count of attempted murder. Two other men – Jarivs Tucker and Maleik Houseal – are facing accessory and weapons charges. Tucker was released from jail on Sept. 18 on $250,000 surety bond.

Houseal, who was injured in the shooting along with his brother, also faces a federal gun charge for the shooting.

Bates was injured in a second shooting hours later at the Vault club on Broad River Road.

All five suspects are from Newberry County.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, whose agency is investigating the second shooting, said a music industry-related feud between two Newberry County groups fueled the violence. However, Columbia police investigators and an attorney for Bates said last week that a music rivalry was not the cause of the violence.

Lartman’s criminal history extends to a 2007 arrest for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and strong arm robbery in Newberry County when he was 17, according to State Law Enforcement Division records. He was convicted on both charges along with a charge of criminal conspiracy, and sentenced under the state’s Youthful Offender Act to a term not to exceed six years.

In April 2012, Lartman and Bates were arrested on four counts of attempted murder in connection with a shooting in Newberry County.

This shooting stemmed from a dispute at a nightclub in Saluda, Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster told The State newspaper.

Investigators later learned that at some point between the confrontation at the Saluda club and the shooting in Newberry County, the van had stopped and let out Bates and Lartman, Foster said.

Charges were dismissed against both men, and the suspect who was determined to be the shooter was later found guilty and sentenced to 12 years, Foster said.

Lartman was arrested in September 2012 on charges of discharging a firearm into a dwelling, engaging in a riot and possession of marijuana, according to SLED records. He was convicted on the first two charges. For violating probation in connection with that shooting, Lartman was sentenced to seven years plus two years probation.

This story was originally published November 2, 2017 at 3:06 PM with the headline "Fifth suspect charged in Vista shooting that injured 9."