SUMTER, S.C. —
Authorities say a man fired a gun at people at random at a South Carolina apartment complex and a tire store.
Sumter Police Chief Russel Roark said four people were hit by gunfire Monday morning and remain in the hospital.
Roark said 25-year-old Ozzy Alexander Mooneyham appeared to have no intended targets. He is charged with seven counts of attempted murder.
Roark said at a news conference that Mooneyham shot at four people at the apartments, striking one woman and wounding three at Palmetto Tire and Auto.
“The individuals and victims in this particular case were merely targets of opportunity for an individual determined to create chaos and cause harm to innocent people in our community,” said Roark. “There is no other way to describe this than an active shooter situation.”
https://www.wyff4.com/article/4-hurt-in-random-shootings-at-sumter-tire-store-apartment/29547541
https://www.wyff4.com/article/4-hurt-in-random-shootings-at-sumter-tire-store-apartment/29547541
Michael Lucente was working on a car in the driveway of the business when Mooneyham walked in.
“I was under the hood of a vehicle over there with the service manager and we heard pop, pop, pop, pop…it sounded like firecrackers going off,” he said. “When he walked out we saw him and we saw the AK in his hand and we put two and two together. When he got in the car, he stared right at the service manager right in his eyes and I suspect he was out of ammunition because if he wasn’t, he probably would have shot him, too.”
Shortly thereafter, Josh Robinson, a mechanic at the shop, came back from test driving a vehicle.
“My manager kept yelling at me to chase this car, I kind of figured he might have walked out on a bill or stole a car or something,” said Robinson. “I chased him all the way to Pike Road where he pulled into a mattress store that was closed, I blocked him in, I knocked on his window and he rolled it down with a rifle pointed at me and I asked him if he’d just been at Palmetto Auto and Tire and he said yes and rolled the window back up.”
Robinson said Mooneyham then sideswiped his car and escaped the parking lot. Robinson continued to follow him before getting the attention of passing deputies.
“I didn’t know what had happened to my coworkers but even if I had, I still would have chased him because it’s the right thing to do,” Robinson said.
Two Sumter County deputies stopped Mooneyham four minutes after the tire shop shooting.
Roark says Mooneyham legally bought the gun used in the shooting and others found in his car.
