Columbia police say 1 killed, 1 seriously wounded in apparent self-defense shooting
An incident that began with two men smashing car windows and people yelling at each other outside a northern Columbia apartment complex Friday night ended with one of the men shot dead and the other suffering life-threatening injuries, police said.
The Columbia Police Department said two men were smashing the windows of vehicles at Colony Apartments off West Beltline Boulevard and Bailey Street in the Booker Washington Heights community about 10 p.m. Friday. Another group came out to confront the two. A person called police when arguing began.
A gun was pulled out by one of the men that was beating the cars, police said. Then the people who’d confronted the suspects took out their own gun, according to police.
The two men who had been smashing the windows were shot, police said, and both ran to a nearby apartment.
Columbia police officers arrived to a “hostile and chaotic environment” created by a crowd that had gather outside the apartments, the department said. Backup from additional officers and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department arrived.
Police found one of the shooting victims dead outside an apartment. Paramedics took the second man to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
No charges are being filed at this time because the shooting is thought to have been in self-defense, police said.
Investigators questioned several people throughout the evening. The police recovered spent shell casings and multiple guns.
A new system designed to acoustically detect gunfire known as ShotSpotter picked up the shots, Columbia PD said in a news release.
Richland County Coroner Gary Watts identified the dead man as 24-year-old Saturnino Alphonse Williams. Authorities pronounced him dead on the scene from a gunshot to the upper body.
The identity of the other man has not been released.
The coroner’s office, Columbia Police Department and South Carolina Law Enforcement Divisions are investigating.
In early July, police arrested and charged Williams with third degree domestic violence, malicious property damage, possession of a stolen pistol, unlawfully carrying a gun, lying to police and failing to stop for police command, according to court records. Columbia municipal Judge Overture E. Walker let Williams out of jail on a $15,000 bond and forbade him from carrying a gun.
The shooting came a day after Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook, along with Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott and U.S. Attorney Sherri Lydon, announced a new initiative to combat gun violence in North Columbia. The initiative, known as Project Safe Neighborhoods, involves a partnership between law enforcement and residents to target the “approximately 5% who are committing 80 to 90% of our violent crimes, ” Lydon said.
This story was originally published July 27, 2019 at 9:33 AM.