Columbia endures night of downtown violence after George Floyd protest
Editor’s note: This story continuous updates from events that unfolded throughout the evening and night in downtown Columbia. Read below for time-stamped updates.
At least four Columbia police officers were injured. Cars were set ablaze. Business windows were smashed. Shots were fired. Multiple people were arrested.
An afternoon of peaceful protests devolved into riotous chaos in downtown Columbia on Saturday evening in a scene that mirrored the violent unrest taking place in cities across the country following the death of a black man, George Floyd, at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Several hundred protesters confronted police officers in riot gear in front of the Columbia Police Department headquarters on Washington Street downtown. As tensions escalated, the city center spiraled into violence not seen in decades.
Floyd’s death has sparked national outrage ever since a video went viral depicting an officer kneeling on his neck while he was detained face down, pleading with the officer, saying he couldn’t breathe.
It was chaos in the heart of Columbia from late afternoon into the early evening.
Huge crowds stood by as cars went up in flames. At least three police cars burned on Lincoln Street near the Luther Lee building. A loud explosion could be heard as the cars burned. Other cars in a nearby parking garage were set ablaze. A man broke out a street level window of the Aloft Hotel as crowds swarmed around the building.
Protesters, who then moved to the brick-paved section of Lincoln Street near the Blue Marlin restaurant, used a parking sign in an attempt to break the window of a retail store. Some in the crowd cheered.
An armored police vehicle then rolled down the street, telling the crowd to disperse. “Leave the area, go home,’’ police said through a loudspeaker.
Jason Tucker, a Gilbert carpenter who dropped an employee off in West Columbia late Saturday afternoon, said he was stunned at the violence in Columbia. He could see smoke from across the river, so he drove over to see what was happening.
“I saw three cop cars on fire, and they started a fire in the parking garage; that’s what just blew up,’’ Tucker said. “It was a paint truck. There were people throwing (stuff). It was crazy.’’
Tucker said he saw a man walking down the street with a television after a window in a business was smashed.
One man, who declined to give his name, was in front of the hotel when the window broke out. He tried to calm the crowd but was frustrated he could not. He said the violence was senseless.
“The people that are here right now are not the ones who were at the State House march; it was a giant beautiful crowd marching down in peace and solidarity,’’ the man, visibly shaken, said. “These are not the ones who showed up at the State House. I understand the frustration … but this is going to cause more problems. People destroying stuff.’’
Here are live updates as events continue to unfold in downtown Columbia.
11:30 p.m.
Shots were fired in the direction of Richland County sheriff’s deputies near the corner of Gervais and Assembly streets in downtown Columbia.
No injuries were reported in the gunfire.
The sheriff’s department said it was searching for at least three people possibly involved in the shooting, but did not have descriptions.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott was not targeted and was not shot at in the incident, according to the sheriff’s department.
10 p.m.
Columbia’s neighboring city, West Columbia, announced it has put a curfew in place through 6 a.m. Sunday. The curfew went into effect at 9 p.m.
9:30 p.m.
“Several” arrests have been made after protests devolved into riots in downtown Columbia Saturday evening.
Columbia Police Department spokeswoman Jennifer Timmons confirmed that several people had been arrested but did not immediately have an exact number. An emergency curfew went into effect in the downtown area at 6 p.m., with violators subject to arrest.
A line of more than a dozen police officers stood across Gervais Street at the intersection of Park Street in the Vista. With the exception of a heavy police presence, the district had become mostly deserted.
Both the Blossom and Gervais street bridges headed into downtown Columbia from West Columbia and Cayce were barricaded by police vehicles.
S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster tweeted a condemnation of the violence that unfolded in the previous hours, saying, “This type of lawlessness does not represent the values of our great state and it will not be tolerated.”
A new American flag was raised at the Columbia Police Department headquarters after protesters burned the original flag earlier in the day.
9 p.m.
Main Street was relatively quiet, but a surge of people was expected, several law enforcement officers said.
Traffic was heavy at the corner of Main and Gervais streets.
Desmond Green said he doesn’t favor the violence that has happened but people are justifiably upset. “Police are killing young boys, young men,” he said, noting that “I think we should have Martin Luther King kind of protests. “
As night fell, the mood downtown was a far cry from what it had been about nine hours earlier.
Lawrence Nathaniel, an organizer of Saturday’s earlier protest, called the morning “beautiful.”
“Everything was going peacefully,” Nathaniel said. “And then, we wanted to go to the police department. They (CPD) were prepared for us, and we were met by agitators.”
Nathaniel said he was attacked twice, once by someone who threw something at him and another time when he was chased.
”I’m like, how can you attack someone who helped plan the march?” Nathaniel said.
Nathaniel said he can’t say he was disappointed with how the day turned. “Because I understand it,” he said. “I don’t condone it. But I understand it. We can’t keep being disappointed.”
Nathaniel said he planned to go back to the protests and was worried particularly, he said, about businesses in Five Points. “They (CPD) need to get ready for it,” he said. “They need to be ready.”
8:30 p.m.
As unrest continued to unfold in the Vista, protesters and police moved toward Main Street as well. Some business windows were broken there. Police vehicles blocked off numerous downtown streets. A convenience store was looted.
Protesters continued to yell at police as crowds slowly dispersed around Main Street.
8 p.m.
Tear gas was deployed to disperse protesters in the Vista, where multiple businesses had been damaged.
The Blue Marlin restaurant on Lincoln Street was badly damaged.
Blue Marlin co-owner Ryan Dukes said the restaurant was spray painted and windows were knocked out.
“Probably the hardest part was wanting to keep the staff safe,” he said. “The police department helped get customers out. Probably had 20, 30 customers.”
Dukes said the restaurant is closed and will not reopen on Sunday.
“We’re going to relax,” Ryan Dukes said. “This, I don’t know how you put it, up close and personal with just chaos. I’m calling all the staff to make sure everybody is OK.”
Ryan’s father, Bill Dukes, told The State he spoke to his son on Saturday evening.
“Our employees were scared,” Bill Dukes said. “Ryan got down there, and before he got to the restaurant, said, ‘Dad, I’ve never seen anything like this in our town.’”
Bill Dukes noted Blue Marlin was closed for two weeks because of the virus. He wasn’t sure how much longer they would have to stay closed. “It’s a very tragic situation.”
7:45 p.m.
Businesses were damaged and an armored law enforcement vehicle was deployed to the Vista as protesters were pushed away from Columbia police headquarters and toward the central business district..
A minor fire was set in a building on Lincoln Street, near Lady Street, which is about a block from the police department. Several business windows were smashed.
A police officer was seen limping away from the area with a gash on his leg. A Columbia police spokeswoman confirmed that one officer who was injured earlier in the day is in “serious” condition. The department is monitoring the conditions of three other officers who were injured during the afternoon protest.
S.C. House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, had been with protesters earlier in the day, including outside the Columbia Police Department, but said he left for home once the police said it was time to go.
“I thought that this morning went exactly the way it should,” said Rutherford, a prominent local African American leader whose district includes the downtown area. “We had a great rally and great speeches, and then when things went to the police department, I’m not sure what happened. It did appear that there was some agitators.”
Rutherford said many of the peaceful protesters went home once the city police stepped up enforcement and the mayor enacted a curfew.
“I went out to try to see if I could calm people down and not allow the movement to be perverted,” he said, “but I didn’t see a lot of people I know.”
7:15 p.m.
Crowds moved from the area surrounding the Columbia police headquarters into the downtown commercial center of the Vista. Protesters and police alike filled the streets, as shouts of “No justice, no peace” rang out.
Multiple businesses were damaged, including the Aloft hotel, Blue Marlin restaurant and Sandler’s Diamonds & Time on Lincoln Street.
7 p.m.
Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin walked outside of Columbia police headquarters to speak directly to protesters, telling them to go home.
Police used barricades to walk protesters away from the police department. The crowd largely dispersed, though some people remained.
Thick black smoke from car fires was visible as far away as across the river in West Columbia. The sounds of explosives could be heard near the police headquarters, apparently from cars combusting.
Several storefronts were damaged in the Vista.
T.J. Nichols, a protester from Dillon, S.C. arrived in Columbia after the city’s curfew went into effect and said he wanted to bring speak out about social injustice and to bring more attention to the killing of George Floyd.
“I just want to make my voice heard,” he said. “It’s a historic day. Our whole nation is mobilizing and I want to be around for that so I can tell my kids years from now that we were a part of the change and not just the ones home on social media.”
6:45 p.m.
Protesters remained outside the Columbia Police Department headquarters after city officials announced a curfew for downtown effective at 6 p.m.
Public bus service has been temporarily suspended, and cars were set on fire in a parking garage near the police station.
Multiple fires burned and crowds remained tense at the intersection of Lincoln and Washington streets.
Minutes earlier, city officials pleaded with all city residents and outsiders to go home. Arrests have been threatened for anyone violating the emergency curfew.
“This is not Columbia,” said city manager Teresa Wilson, on the verge of tears at a press conference. “Those that are here to do harm, you need to leave immediately.”
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, who joined a peaceful protest march from City Hall to the S.C. State House earlier in the day, said, “The group that’s here now has nothing to do with that group that came out and protested peacefully.”
6:15 p.m.
Columbia city officials addressed reporters as multiple police cars burned outside the Columbia Police Department headquarters downtown. Black smoke billowed over hundreds of protesters and officers who faced one another in a standoff.
“When protests go from being peaceful to being violent, the conversation changes,” said Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, who wore a black face mask and a “Love, Peace & Hip Hop” T-shirt. “What’s happening right now cannot and will not be tolerated in this city. We’re going to shut it down and shut it down now.”
An emergency curfew was put in place as of 6 p.m. for the entire downtown area, including the Vista district where the police headquarters is located. People violating the curfew could be arrested and subject to a $500 fine or 30 days in jail, Benjamin said. The curfew will also be in effect Sunday evening.
At least four police officers have been injured Saturday afternoon, one possibly seriously, Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said. Some protesters apparently have been injured, too.
Multiple people have been arrested, including at least one person who fired a gun among the crowds, Holbrook said.
Holbrook said his “officers have not returned fire,” but Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott added that officers have fired rubber bullets in reaction to objects being thrown by protesters.
5:45 p.m.
A news conference with city officials is expected soon.
People from across South Carolina traveled to the capital city for Saturday’s protests.
Karen McWhite came from Florence.
“I have a son and I have five grandsons, and I don’t want this to happen to them,” she said. “I want people to know that, to me, hatred is taught. It’s not nothing that you’re born and raised with. And I want my grandsons and my son to be able to walk around safe and when they get stopped by a police officer (not) be fearful, doing what the police officer tells you, but don’t be killed when they’re doing what they asked you.”
She added that she she is “hoping, I’m praying, rather, that we all can come to agreement, that we don’t have to be vandalizing, violence. We can just get along and stop the racism and come together.”
5:30 p.m.
A Columbia police car was set on fire. Protesters also smashed in the windows of a police vehicle, spray painted on it and looted the insides. Multiple police vehicles have been damaged.
5 p.m.
Multiple law enforcement agencies have descended at the Columbia police headquarters, including officers from the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, state Highway Patrol and S.C. Law Enforcement Division. Many wore riot gear as a standoff ensued with hundreds of protesters.
At least one officer was spotted on the roof of the nearby Columbia Municipal Court.
Someone wrote in red spray paint on the top of a nearby parking garage: “Stop $ 2 the corporation” and “BLM.”
Earlier Saturday afternoon
The protesters tore down the American and state flags in front of the department headquarters, burning the American flag and destroying the state flag. They also swarmed a Columbia police car, breaking its windows.
Officers shot at least one non-lethal round. One person was treated for heat stroke. Washington Street was barricaded and rocks were thrown as tensions escalated following a peaceful march on the S.C. State House earlier in the day.
Protesters gathered outside the police headquarters streamed away from the sound of shots, and sirens were soon heard streaming along Assembly Street, headed in the direction of the police department.
A television reporter for WIS TV, Miranda Parnell, was injured by rocks thrown at the protest. WIS anchor Judi Gatson tweeted that Parnell said “a person wearing a MAGA hat showed up at the rally, protestors confronted that person & then rocks were thrown ... one of them hitting Miranda. She’s headed to the hospital to be checked out.”
Early Saturday, several thousand people rallied in Columbia to protest Floyd’s death.
Initially, the protesters marched to the State House carrying signs with messages that included “Indict. Convict. Throw the Killer Cops in Jail,” “No Justice No Peace” and “I can’t breathe.”
Later the protest became more tense when several hundred people marched to the Columbia Police Department, where officers in riot gear set up a barricade. A few protesters threw water bottles. The police and the crowd were in a standoff at mid Saturday afternoon, with protesters taunting police.
Protesters removed the United States and South Carolina flags from in front of the police agency and set fire to the U.S. flag. The South Carolina flag was destroyed.
The State’s Andrew Caplan, Greg Hadley, Noah Feit, and Joe Bustos contributed.
This story was originally published May 30, 2020 at 4:41 PM.
