Store clerk with metal blade and gun shoots unarmed man during argument, SC cops say
A store clerk armed with a metal blade and gun is accused of shooting an unarmed man in the head, South Carolina officials say.
The shooting victim, identified by police as David Wilson, was rushed from the Charleston store to a hospital on Monday. He later died, a spokesperson for the city’s police department said in an email to McClatchy News.
Police say Wilson was shot at Green’s Grocery, about a half-mile from the Medical University of South Carolina.
An attorney for the suspect, 18-year-old Suhib Yousef, said in court that his client defended himself during a robbery, WCSC reported.
But officers have countered that narrative.
Police watched video from the business, which showed Wilson browsing in the store, according to an arrest affidavit. When Wilson tried to bring an item to the checkout, he and the clerk started arguing, the document said.
During the exchange, officers say Yousef pulled out a “bat-like object capable of producing an electric arc.” He later put down that object and started to brandish a metal blade, according to police.
Wilson walked toward the door and spat at the clerk, who picked up a gun, officers say.
“Rather than closing the door and securing it once the victim exited the business, the defendant held the door open with his foot, and continued to point the firearm at the victim while engaging in an altercation with the victim,” police said in Yousef’s arrest affidavit.
A witness reported seeing Yousef fire a gun at the man, according to the document.
He was facing charges of “attempted murder and possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a violent crime” as of Wednesday afternoon, said Charles Francis, police department spokesperson.
Yousef on Thursday is expected to have a bond hearing on a murder charge, officials say.
