Drugs, gangs, domestic violence driving spike in homicides, Midlands officials say

Last year was the deadliest in five years for homicides in Columbia and Richland and Lexington counties.

Columbia saw 14 killings, Richland, 29, and Lexington, 21, according to numbers compiled by Richland County Coroner Gary Watts and Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher at the request of The State newspaper.

Officials say gang and youth violence is a problem, as are domestic violence and a statewide upswing in drug crimes.

The 64 homicides in 2015 significantly outpaced the annual average of 50 deaths for the past five years. And Watts said Columbia and Richland so far this year are on pace to match last year.

Who is falling victim to homicides in the Columbia area? Midlands law enforcement leaders say people aren’t being picked off randomly on the street – rather, killers and their victims tend to be acquainted.

The Richland County numbers above include all incidents within the county except those handled by the Columbia Police Department. The Lexington County numbers include all incidents, in both incorporated and unincorporated areas.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said two trends are evident in the Midlands – an increase in gang and youth violence, and an uptick in domestic violence. Lott said the first trend is why he and Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook worked to create the Midlands Gang Task Force in 2014.

“Rarely do we have a stranger murder,” Lott said. “When I say stranger murder, that’s when someone kills someone and they’re unknown to each other. Rarely do we have that. It’s usually some type of relationship – a domestic-type relationship or a gang and drug relationship.”

Those two trends are backed up by observations from the county’s coroner, who said that though domestic violence killings are still a small number of total deaths, a change is noticeable. Watts also said he has seen younger and younger homicide victims throughout his time as coroner.

“A lot of people have lost the value of a human life,” Watts said.

Statistically, most victims of domestic violence are women. Three women were killed in Columbia in 2015, three in Richland County and four in Lexington County. Over the five-year period, women comprised 57 of 254 total homicides – though not all of those deaths were in domestic situations.

CONTINUED RISE OF GUNS

Most homicides in the area were committed with firearms – in 2015, 12 in Columbia, 18 in Richland County, and 16 in Lexington County, according to numbers from the coroners.

Easy access to firearms by people who are prohibited from owning them is high on the Columbia Police Department’s list of dangers facing the city. The police chief said such access is a key contributor to violent crime and homicides.

“I think it’s telling that the city of Columbia has the most firearms recoveries in the whole state,” Holbrook said. “That tells me there are a lot of firearms available on the streets, and (those firearms) easily can fall into the hands of a criminal.”

Stiffer penalties are needed, Holbrook said – so that when people are caught multiple times for firearms-related offenses, their punishment reflects that history. The chief also pointed to the need to educate citizens on responsible gun ownership as an important step in keeping weapons out of the hands of criminals.

Well over half of the people who commit homicide shootings in Columbia have criminal histories, Holbrook said – and almost half of all the city’s homicide victims do as well.

Across the river, Lexington County’s coroner pointed to drug use as a common denominator in most homicides there.

“Not all of them, but the majority of them, it probably relates back to drugs, whether it be buying, selling (or) doing,” Fisher said.

Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said many homicides don’t start out with someone intending to go out and kill – they start as other crimes, such as drug violations, domestic disputes and robberies.

The best way for law enforcement to target the homicide rate, Koon said, is to catch these crimes before they escalate to killings.

“In the course of that, hopefully, you trim your homicide numbers,” Koon said. “It’s not a Pee Wee Gaskins, or a serial killer – fortunately – that’s just going down and grabbing people and killing them.”

SHOOTING INCIDENTS UP

In Columbia, shooting incidents have risen along with the rise in homicides.

There were 138 confirmed shootings in Columbia in 2015, and 118 in 2014, according to the police department.

Law enforcement observers around the country have said that lawlessness is on the rise because officers are less assertive – that anti-cop sentiment has made them afraid to get caught in a controversial and possibly deadly officer-involved shooting.

Holbrook said he hasn’t seen any evidence that officers are stepping back from conflicts because of that – or that the climate toward officers is affecting the homicide rate.

In South Carolina, that’s backed up by an increase in people pulling guns on cops. Last year’s 48 was highest number of officer-involved shootings in South Carolina since the State Law Enforcement Division began keeping track in 1999.

Across the Midlands, officials said population growth played a part in the rise in homicide.

In 2011, Columbia had a population of 131, 214, according to the United States Census Bureau. As of 2014 – the most recent numbers available – the city had 132,067 residents.

The census bureau put Richland County at 389,600 residents in 2011, and 401,566 in 2014. Lexington County had 266,383 people in 2011, and 277,888 as of 2014.

As these areas grow, police are looking to citizens to lend a hand in keeping these communities safe from violent crime and homicides.

“It’s a community problem,” Lott said. “People shouldn’t expect law enforcement by itself to have a drastic impact. It takes us working as a community to have an impact.”

‘I DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN 2015’

Henry Hopkins, 84, has lived in the Eau Claire community in northern Columbia for almost four decades. He says community members worked hard at programs to keep violence and killings to a minimum in 2014, so the 2015 rise comes as a shock.

“I don’t know what happened in 2015,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins has seen firsthand the problems that come with an uptick in youth violence – and he says many of the elderly folks in Eau Claire are cautious because of it.

“They feel trapped in their homes,” Hopkins said.

But Hopkins, who served as executive director of the Eau Claire Community Council for 19 years, isn’t throwing in the towel.

“I’m not afraid,” he said. “I don’t think in this neighborhood we’re afraid – because we’re organized.”

That organization is only part of the picture, he said. To bring the homicide rate down, volunteers, police, and local government all have to be on the same page.

As the community gets ready for the second half of 2016, Hopkins is hopeful. He said changes in city ordinances will get rid of abandoned buildings and squatters. But he’s remaining vigilant and encouraging others to do the same.

“I think each neighborhood, especially out in 29203, should take control of their neighborhoods,” Hopkins said. “No one else is going to do it.”

This story was originally published June 4, 2016 at 5:03 PM with the headline "Drugs, gangs, domestic violence driving spike in homicides, Midlands officials say."