Woman eating at crowded Applebee’s is shot twice after argument, SC cops say
A woman was hospitalized and a man is behind bars after a shooting at an Applebee’s restaurant, the Greenwood Police Department said.
The shooting happened Friday night at the Applebee’s Grill & Bar on Bypass 72 NE, police said in a news release. That’s in a busy area of Greenwood where several restaurants, hotels and businesses are located, about 80 miles west of Columbia.
A woman was eating dinner in the restaurant when she got into an argument with Joseph Raekwon Rapp, police said.
During the dispute, the 23-year-old Greenwood man pulled out a handgun and shot the woman twice in the upper body, according to the release.
Rapp was not eating dinner with the woman prior to the shooting, but it was about 9 p.m. when he confronted her in what police called a domestic situation, the Index-Journal reported.
While Rapp left the Applebee’s, the woman was rushed to an area hospital where she had surgery, police said.
Information on her condition was not available.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim and her family during this difficult time,” police said in the release.
The Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office and Lander University police helped Greenwood police secure the restaurant, WHNS reported.
“Obviously there were a lot of people eating here tonight who were very startled,” Greenwood police Maj. T.J. Chaudoin said, according to the Index-Journal.
No other injuries were reported.
Shortly after the shooting, Rapp turned himself in to police at City Hall, according to the release.
Rapp was charged with attempted murder, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, and he’s being held at the Greenwood County Detention Center, police said.
He could face more charges from the shooting, that remains under investigation by police.
Prior to the shooting, a domestic violence charge was pending against Rapp, court records show. Rapp was arrested in August 2018 on a second-degree domestic violence charge, according to records.
In addition to that, Rapp’s also facing a charge of unlawful neglect of a child, court records show.
This story was originally published January 19, 2020 at 9:18 AM.
