At least 10 people were wounded in a shooting in the South Carolina beach town of Little River that appeared to stem from an altercation during a Memorial Day weekend gathering, police said Monday. At least one additional person reported sustaining what police described as a “non-gunfire-related injury.”
The people with the most severe wounds were in critical but stable condition at area hospitals, the Horry County Police Department said in a statement posted to social media Monday.
The police said Sunday’s shooting was believed to be an isolated incident that stemmed from an altercation on a charter boat during a private Memorial Day weekend gathering. The police said the shooting didn’t pose any current risk to the community.
The shooting was under investigation and detectives were working to identify those responsible, police said.
Horry County Police Department via AP
At least 11 people were taken to hospitals by the county’s fire-rescue agency, but investigators also received reports of more people arriving at hospitals in private vehicles, police said.
The shooting happened around a boat dock near the Intracoastal Waterway. Randy Evans told The Post and Courier newspaper that his 25-year-old son said an argument after the boat docked turned ugly.
Evans said his son was shot in the ankle and toe but managed to use his bathing suit as a makeshift tourniquet to help people who were more severely injured.
“The surgery was better than they expected,” Evans told the Charleston newspaper, saying his son didn’t need pins in his foot or ankle. “He’s going to be OK.”
Video from the scene showed dozens of police cars and ambulances rushing in and out of the area.
A North Myrtle Beach police officer responding to the shooting accidentally shot himself in the leg at a marina about 3 miles away and was in a hospital in stable condition, North Myrtle Beach spokeswoman Lauren Jessie said.
Little River is about 20 miles northeast of Myrtle Beach.
