Mass shooting at crowded South Carolina bar kills 4, injures 20
Attack occurred at Willie’s Bar and Grill on St Helena Island, which was packed for a high school alumni event
A mass shooting early Sunday at a crowded bar on an idyllic island considered to be the largest Gullah community on the South Carolina coast has left four people dead and at least 20 injured, officials said.
A large crowd was at Willie’s Bar and Grill on St Helena Island when sheriff’s deputies arrived and found many people with gunshot wounds. An estimated 5,000 or more Gullah people living on the island trace their ancestry back to enslaved West Africans who once worked rice plantations in the area before being freed by the Civil War.
Bar owner Willie Turral was inside the establishment, which was packed for a high school alumni event, when he heard shots going off “in bursts” outside. He described the scene: “Screaming and panic and fear”.
The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on the social platform X that many people ran to nearby businesses seeking shelter from the gunfire.
“This is a tragic and difficult incident for everyone,” the statement said. “We ask for your patience as we continue to investigate this incident. Our thoughts are with all of the victims and their loved ones.”