1 dead after double carjacking near major Columbia shopping area, deputies say
A man is dead after being struck by a person driving a stolen car on Piney Woods Road in Columbia Saturday, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.
Zee Zelazurro, 44, is in custody after killing a man while hijacking two cars and wrecking them both Saturday, the sheriff’s department said in a news release. He was charged with reckless homicide, two counts of carjacking, two counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime, discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, and first-degree assault and battery.
Zelazurro was charged with additional crimes Monday. That included attempted robbery, attempted carjacking, a third count of possession of a weapon during a violent crime, two counts of armed robbery and possession of a weapon by a person convicted of a violent crime, according to the sheriff’s department.
The sheriff’s department said deputies responded to the scene after the Columbia Police Department asked for assistance with the carjacking, according to an incident report. The sheriff’s department said it also received calls about shots fired and a suspicious person.
When deputies arrived in the area of Piney Grove Road and Piney Woods Road at around 12:30 p.m., they found Zelazurro inside a wrecked vehicle and an adult male dead on scene, the release said. Two other people, including a juvenile, were injured and taken to an area hospital, according to the sheriff’s department. Further information on their conditions was not available.
Deputies said that Zelazurro carjacked two separate people at gunpoint near a Costco in the Piney Grove Road and Piney Woods Road area.
In the first carjacking, Zelazurro fired a handgun into an occupied vehicle before speeding off in the car, the release said. The driver of that vehicle was not hit by gunfire, according to the sheriff’s department.
While in the first car, Zelazurro zoomed up Piney Grove Road before striking a white truck, which disabled both vehicles, according to the release.
Zelazurro then fled from the crash on foot before carjacking a second vehicle, which at 11:38 a.m. prompted a reporter with McClatchy, The State’s parent company, to call 911 when he saw a woman fleeing from her car that had just been hijacked.
As the reporter reached a line of cars backed up because of the first collision, he saw the other vehicle barrelling down the sidewalk at a high rate of speed, striking a fire hydrant and overturning the vehicle near a Dominion energy station.
When the second vehicle overturned, it hit the driver of the white truck — from the first wreck — who had gotten out of his vehicle. The driver died on the scene .
On Monday, the driver was identified as 71-year-old Irmo resident Joseph J. Feda, according to Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford.
On Monday, the sheriff’s department said that Zelazurro attempted to carjack another vehicle during the spree. It happened after the first carjacking and initial wreck with the white truck, according to the sheriff’s department. When that failed, Zelazurro then went on to carjack the third victim, stealing the vehicle and subsequently causing the second collision that killed Feda, the sheriff’s department said.
On Saturday, Zelazurro was taken to an area hospital, according to the sheriff’s department. He was booked into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center Monday, and no bond has been set, jail records show.
Information about a motive for the carjackings was not available.
Piney Woods Road runs along one side of Interstate 26, near the Harbison shopping district that is home to the Columbiana Centre mall, among many other businesses.
The Columbia Police Department is investigating the two collisions.
This is not the first time that Zelazurro has been arrested. He’s previously been charged in previous incidents in Richland County, and in February 2000 he pleaded guilty to an accessory after the fact to a felony charge, court records show.
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This story was originally published October 18, 2025 at 2:54 PM.
