He was gunned down on his birthday at a Richland club

One of the men shot and killed outside a Richland County nightclub early Wednesday was charged and later convicted in a 2012 shooting at a Columbia McDonald’s, according to law enforcement records and news archives.

Torance Lamar Peoples was one of two men fatally shot outside The Black Pearl on Broad River Road around 3 a.m. Wednesday. His 26th birthday was Wednesday, according to Richland County Coroner Gary Watts.

Investigators said an argument between two groups prompted a shootout, and that Peoples and the second victim, 23-year-old Trevonne Judge, both were involved in the exchange of gunfire.

Peoples was charged in a similar incident in September 2012 at the McDonald’s on Two Notch Road at West Beltline Boulevard, according to previous accounts in The State. In that incident, Peoples and another man fired into a crowd outside the restaurant after an argument in the parking lot. One person was killed and two people were injured.

The argument escalated into a physical fight, and then several suspects drew guns and fired, Columbia police said at the time. A 20-year-old Elgin man was shot in the head and died, and two others were injured, according to reports.

Peoples was on the run for nearly a month before U.S. Marshals and police tracked him down at a Parklane Road motel.

Police charged Peoples with seven counts of attempted murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and discharging a firearm into a dwelling, according to State Law Enforcement Division records. Peoples was convicted on one count of first-degree assault and battery and discharging a firearm into a dwelling; however, the remaining charges were dismissed, according to SLED.

Before the 2012 shooting, Peoples was convicted on charges of strong arm robbery and second-degree burglary from a 2009 incident, according to records. He was sentenced under the state’s Youthful Offender Act to a term not to exceed six years.

This story was originally published December 20, 2017 at 4:27 PM with the headline "He was gunned down on his birthday at a Richland club."