Man killed his girlfriend before turning gun on himself, SC coroner says
A South Carolina woman died Saturday after she was shot by her boyfriend, who then turned the gun on himself, the Aiken County Coroner’s Office said.
Lacey Toole, a 34-year-old Warrenville resident, was killed, Coroner Darryl Ables said in a news release.
Her boyfriend, who has not been publicly identified, is still alive, according to Ables. The boyfriend is being treated at Augusta University Medical Center and is in critical condition, the coroner said.
The incident happened Friday, according to the release.
At about 7:45 p.m., Aiken County sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of a shooting at a home in the 100 block of Pelzer Street, Ables said. That’s in Warrenville, near Augusta Road in the Langley Pond area.
When they arrived, deputies found Toole in the front yard, and determined she had been shot, according to the release. The man was found on the front porch of the home also suffering from a gunshot wound, Ables said.
Both were taken to the hospital in Augusta, Georgia, where Toole died shortly after midnight, according to the release.
Investigators determined the man shot Toole during a domestic violence incident, then he shot himself, Ables said.
An autopsy will be performed Monday in Newberry, according to the coroner.
There was no word on any criminal charges the man will face, should he recover from his injuries, but the shooting continues to be investigated by the coroner’s office and sheriff’s office.
This was the second deadly domestic violence incident in Aiken County in a two-day span.
Yoni Vargas, 37, is believed to have shot and killed his wife, Rosa Salguero-Landaverde, 33, before dying by suicide from the same gun, according to Ables.
That shooting happened at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the couple’s Aiken home in the 3800 block of Summerhill Avenue, Ables said. That incident is also still under investigation.
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