An 18-year-old University of South Carolina student was in critical condition after being hit by a stray bullet in the violence-prone Five Points region of downtown Columbia, S.C.
You know … the place Columbia, S.C. mayor Steve Benjamin assured citizens was safe earlier this year.
Columbia, S.C. police officers have arrested a 20-year-old suspect – Michael Juan Smith – in connection with the shooting.
Smith was charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a violent felony, unlawful carrying of a firearm, and possession of a stolen firearm.
“This is a senseless crime,” Columbia’s interim police chief said in a statement. “Here is a young lady who was standing with a large group of people when she gets shot and then collapses in front of her friends. Now she is fighting for her life in the hospital. The shooter has no respect for human life and will face the consequences. Our prayers are with victim and her family.”
Actually what’s senseless is cops in Columbia focusing their energies on arresting underage drinkers as opposed to violent criminals. What’s senseless is the local “thug life” judges letting these criminals run free on the streets after they’ve been arrested. What’s senseless is the thugs who do wind up going to jail being allowed to live it up behind bars (doing drugs, getting tattoos, recording rap music, posting messages to social media, etc).
So yeah … we suppose this was a “senseless” crime.
Senseless in that we keep expecting the morons running the City of Columbia, S.C. to do something about it …
What a crazy world we live in … in which governments do literally millions of things they’re not supposed to do, yet can’t seem to provide the most important of their core functions?
69 comments
Appears that five points is only safe for diabetic naacp members now.
HAH!!!
No doubt City Manager Wilson after hearing the report on her police radio jumped in her taxpayer Cadillac Escalade and went Code 1 to the aid of the shooter to make sure his rights were not violated……………
I think it’s time for another photo op I.E. Press conference on site at the fountain with concerned citizens, business owners and Mr, Strong Mayor calling for a crack down on thugs,,,,,,,oh wait a minute they already did that.
Same news; different day. ANOTHER day in the hood…….
I didn’t think a crime could exceed the horror of the assault on Carter Strange but it looks like this one inflicted on a pretty, freshman sorority girl will do it.
Give it a few weeks and this one will be outdone by another attack.
Five Points a good place to be from, as far away from as you can get.
Sam as the rest of Columbia. What a shit hole. Oh..but they have the zoo!
They also have some sort of animal park off of Greystone…..
And another one out Broad River Road surrounded in razor wire….
And another one out Broad River Road surrounded in razor wire….
we need more sensible crime.to wit; in the south,an acceptable motive for murder is,’they just needed killing’
Have you heard about the gay pickpocket in Five Points? They say he leaves the wallet, but takes out the owner.
In Texas there’s a guy who is borderline psycho, borderline retarded and they are going to execute him. All these guilty liberals are saying, “You can’t kill crazy people, they’re crazy. They don’t know what they did.”
If they don’t know what they did, then they don’t know you’re gonna kill em! Put ’em in the electric chair and tell ’em it’s a ride! (from Bobby Slayton)
Actually, “he just needed killing”, should be a ground for self defense. There’s a lot of people out there who fall into that category.
The shooter in this case is one of them.
More misunderstood youth I presume!
… misunderstood youth…
Youfs
You mean Yutes.
Nice one, cuz.
Yet another welfare recipient. He was out on parole too:
http://mugshots.com/US-Counties/South-Carolina/Richland-County-SC/Michael-Juan-Smith.20368914.html
Tags :
Crime
Shooting
Five Points
Black People
City and county run by corrupt democrats, PERIOD. As long as they keep re-electing them the citizens get what they deserve.
I have ruled that in my imperial wisdom that the Democrats in Richland County and the City of Columbia are not corrupt. I have Vincent Sheheen working for me as well as James Smith and Hugh Leatherman to get me re-elected as chief justice for 15 months so that Costa Pleicones cannot come in and see exactly what I have been doing behind the backs of the other four justices. After I get Costa out, get a few things covered up, then I have Kaye Hearn’s assurances that when I get her elected chief justice, she will keep everything covered that I have deemed to be covered up. Any questions – just keep them to yourself because I don’t care.
An occasional lynching might not be so bad after all. Where are all the freedom riders singing “We shall overcome”? Hope their bus didn’t break down in the ‘hood! How’s that idealistic fervor playing out fifty-five years later? Seeing lot’s of improvement?
Steve was expecting all college students to wear a Kevlar vest and helmet and carry a riot shield around with them. With some creative maneuvers and agile ducking between cars, you could make it across an entire block relatively safely!
(Results may vary.)
Shifty guesses that the streets just aren’t safe any more. Yesterday I heard about a tourist
in Five Points who asked a cop how to get to the State House. The cop told him, “Well, you go up Harden Street to Gervais Street and then turn left. If you can get that far.”
You are a complete piece of shit you worthless moron. A young girl is laying in a hospital room and will never walk again. And that, you MF, if she is lucky. It may be worse. Sure, jokes are great sometimes. This is the time to show some compassionate outrage make a worthwhile contribution.
Perhaps you should hold open-mic night at the fountain in five points and tell some monkey jokes until one of those thugs puts a cap in your spine.
Lighten up bro. It’s a tragedy what happened to this girl, but there is also an ongoing issue about the lack of safety in five points.
The worthless moron POS is (allegedly) Juan Michael Smith, not Shifty.
TBG would suggest that now is not the time for “compassionate outrage” (whatever that is), but for some “kick ass and take names outrage”.
Shifty was in Five Points last Saturday night and a really tough looking guy walked up to me and said, “Hey, buddy, you want to buy a real nice ring?” I asked him what it looked like. He said, “Don’t look now but the guy standing behind you is wearing it.”
A jewelry store owner called the police station to report a robbery. “You’ll never believe what
happened, Sergeant. A truck backed up to my store, the doors opened, and an elephant came out. He broke my plate glass window, stuck his trunk in, sucked up all the jewelry, and climbed back into the truck. The doors closed and the truck pulled away.”
The Sergeant said, “Could you tell me, for identification purposes, whether it was an Indian elephant or an African elephant?”
“What’s the difference?” asked the jeweler.
“Well,” said the Sergeant, “an African elephant has great big ears and an Indian elephant has little ears.”
“Come to think of it, I couldn’t see his ears,” said the jeweler. “He had a stocking over his
head.”
Shifty has three cousins who grew up in New Orleans. Their went to a high school that was really a tough place. The school had two extra recesses each day just to take out the wounded.
Could’ve been “strong mayor” Benjamin’s son.
Is Juan Michael Smith another of Judge Alison Renee Lee’s lenient releases? Even if he is not, that woman has blood on her hands. LOTS and LOTS of blood.
if Obama had a son…
I think it’s time the city needs to fence off the area like they do on St. Pats Day where you can monitor who goes in and who goes out. Shut off the traffic ect. and make it into a controlled entertainment district at night. Moveable barricades are doable and this in turn will eliminate the problem.
Kinda like a Concentration Camp for Drunks and Whore Mongers
Stalag 69
You can say that again!
Kinda like a Concentration Camp for Drunks and Whoremongers
Stalag 69
I like your name. I saw that Chamberlain-like pacifist Cromatie/Toal loving Coble last week. He is the blame for much of this mess, but not to hear him tell it. He is so afraid of hurting a black person’s feelings and consequently losing his son a future vote, he cannot function. What a loser.
Thank you for noticing, he was the worst politician this city has seen in the last 100 years. He did more long term damage then Sherman
I like your name. I saw that Chamberlain-like pacifist Cromatie/Toal loving Coble last week. He is the blame for much of this mess, but not to hear him tell it. He is so afraid of hurting a black person’s feelings and consequently losing his son a future vote, he cannot function. What a loser.
One has to wonder if Mayor Steve was a full time $160,000 city employee that this horrible crime and no doubt more to come could be prevented? No outrage from the caring city mgr.
As a parent of a current student I cannot make my kid withdraw from USC Columbia. I can only encourage my child to avoid Five Points. That said, I am not allowing my second child to even consider Carolina next year due to the crime situation in Columbia. This is real. I am serious. This shooting hit way too close to home for us and our community in the upstate. I HOPE THAT SOMEONE WHO CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE READS THIS POST. Enough is enough. Between the corrupt politicians, the allegations that the gangs have affiliations with the current city administration and the endless violence, the USC pocketbook will start to feel this pain. I speak for many many people who have finally realized their worst nightmare. The animals have taken the zoo and now they are laying siege to the city. The National Guard walking the streets would not be enough.
You can walk more safely through Times Square at the same hour of night that you can in Five Points. Whatever time of night, whatever your preference for a social scene, a college student should be able to enjoy being a college student.
Columbia guards and protects the thugs, the homeless, the drug dealers, the corrupt politicians and overreacts each time one of them is insulted or nabbed for something.
You can have it. The next Atlanta. It’s yours. We’ll be taking our money elsewhere.
Unfortunately a great university will suffer. Perhaps that is what it will take to turn the corner. They are the only entity nearly influential enough to apply the proper pressure. Dr. Pastides – get to it sir.
Same here. My oldest daughter is in grad school. My youngest is a freshman. A few weeks ago, one of her pledge sisters was almost kidnapped on the way to their early evening sorority meeting.
It’s time for parents with concealed carry permits to organize and patrol five points since the police won’t protect our children or keep the vicious animals in a cage where they belong.
You may call them “thugs,” but we call them voters here, madam. My friend Harpo rents their vote every couple of years. Your underaged drinking daughter does not help us, really. Thank you and get your legislator to vote for me.
You may call them “thugs,” but we call them voters here, madam. My friend Harpo rents their vote every couple of years. Your underaged drinking daughter does not help us, really. Thank you and get your legislator to vote for me.
The victim in this case was reportedly 18 years old and this incident happened at around 2:30AM if the report I read on the fishwrap is correct.
While it in no way justifies her being shot and possibly paralyzed for life, the question does scream to be asked as to what she was doing there at that hour, in an area and at a time when the only places to be found open were likely bars, where she had no business being.
While I agree that the police focus in that area should be more on the violent thugs than on issuing tickets for underage drinking, it is also difficult to escape from the truth that if she had been elsewhere, she would likely not be in such bad shape, now.
Perhaps there is some merit to discouraging minors from being in that area, where and when they do not belong under current laws.
FWIW, I always have and still do support changing the drinking age back to voting age and otherwise legal adulthood, 18.
At a minimum, there should be some serious food for thought here for underage (and legal age) patrons of 5 Points at those late hours.
So if the girl who had been shot was 21 that would somehow make it better? The problem has nothing to do with an innocent bystander victim being in the area where a crime was committed.
That IS another way of looking at it, no doubt. Still, had she not been there, she would likely not be in the terrible shape and facing a lifetime of disability today.
Personally, I’m sick of the “maybe she shouldn’t have been in the area” argument. We live in America, a free country. Ironically, I thought the argument about where people should and shouldn’t be and live was settled 50 years ago through civil rights legislation to satisfy the ancestors of those same thugs doing the beating and killing in 5 points.
” I thought the argument about where people should and shouldn’t be and
live was settled 50 years ago through civil rights legislation”
That is pure naivete. I assure you that most MLK blvd’s in most major cities are places you want to stay away from late at night. Government passing a few laws doesn’t change the reality.
I assure you that most MLK blvd’s in most major cities are places you want to stay away from late at night.
If you’re gonna crib Chris Rock, at least give a brotha some props.
As a mom, I would be nervous about my 18 yr old being out so late in Five Points. However, it’s what college kids do. If we did put a curfew on 18 yr olds in Five Points, our policemen would have yet another duty – arresting 18 yr old girls like Martha for breaking curfew laws.
So let’s say I’m 16. I can’t sleep and mamma and daddy are both working the 3rd. So I go for an innocent stroll down the street. Maybe I walk down to Five Points and grab a candy bar and a coke. This is America. A free country they tell me in Social Studies class. BAM. I get shot. ARE YOU SAYING THAT I DESERVED TO BE SHOT? You’re an idiot.
Where are the whackjobs saying, “If only she’d been ‘packing’.”
or
“He’d have killed with a knife if he didn’t have a gun.” True, but he might have killed his target instead then.
.
I haven’t heard a plausible solution, but admittedly, I have none myself.
Where are the whackjobs saying, “If only she’d been ‘packing’.”
or
“He’d have killed with a knife if he didn’t have a gun.
We “wackjobs” are the same places that we always are. We just didn’t say those things because they weren’t applicable in this case.
**Returns to monitoring chemtrails**
A real police force would go into the black neighborhoods and clean out the trash. Whats up will all the loud thumping car stereos? Why doesn’t the police write tickets for that too? Is it time for vigilante groups to form?
When government is always breaking the law … what kind of message does that send?
The thugs have to fear being thugs. Two major ways I see to do that:
1. Local 5 points businesses getting together to buy/provide a few roving patrols of armed security guards on high traffic nights.
2. Liberal carry laws so that thugs looking to victimize people are worried about who around them may be armed and able to respond to their initiation of violence.
Is it a cure all? No, there is no such thing. But it’s better then what is going on currently.
The only way that would work would be to cap them on the way into Five Points before they hurt someone. Problem with that scenario is eventually one would be missed so you would move your perimeter out a few miles. Pretty soon, they’re catching it in the Barrio. When that doesn’t work then they start profiling them by DNA and zipping them at the hospital. Showing some results the final adjustment would be to abort them. Since all the Democrats want legalized abortion then, alas, the two parties have come to an historical agreement. Welcome to the year 2050.
What is senseless, having lived in the area since 1989, is how young Smith became so radical. Where did he go to school? What was his home life like? Is it rap music lyrics and gang associations that weaponize young black men? What in his 20 years made him the adult he is. How did socialized society fail him?
So now, an appointed judge will send him to maximum security for a long time. Is the idea appealing to him? Can he sit in his cell, smoke weed, and sex talk to his baby momma with a cell phone? I don’t get it. Is life in prison that good with drugs, booze, cell phones, and tobacco for the inmates?
“Is life in prison that good with drugs, booze, cell phones, and tobacco for the inmates?”
When you have no options(real or imagined) because of a perpetually bad economy(Think about this, the economy hit the shitter big time 5 years ago…making him only 15..so for most of his employable life the economy has no jobs for him) you lose generations of kids to such.
Instead of taking menial jobs, learning a trade over time by starting lower level work, etc….they just drift to “easy” money(drugs, theft) and have no role models to steer them properly.
More of these types would be salvageable if we had a decently functioning economy.
More unemployment=More crime
Government could solve the jobs problem tomorrow by eliminating payroll tax and minimum wage…but we all know the odds of that happening.
Hope her dad or brother goes after his family and paralyzes a few of them. An eye for an eye. Time to make these thug’s family pay for rat shit kids they raise.
Problem: Thug attacks in Five Points. Solution: Merchants install cameras -check; Beef up police presence-check; Columbia Police Chief work with Richland County Police Chief – still waiting. To Mr. Santiago – swallow your pride and take the assistance of Leon Lott.
And of course get rid of the “thug life” judges.
Exactly. How about an accompanying photo of the judge that lets these animals out of jail? This girl’s parents should present the judge who released this maggot, with a wheelchair and ask her/him to sit in it for just one hour every last day he/she lives on this earth.
Same old shit need more cameras and cops. This criminal is another product of the get out of jail crowd. He is a convicted felon with a firearm so lets make a deal and have him sent to the Feds for a stiffer sentence. It appears the same criminals visit the same Judges and the same Bail Bondsman and get out jail so they can cause more damage to the public.
The Columbia Police Department is the living embodiment of incompetence. They can’t fix themselves, much less a problem like this one. We have spent God only knows how much money on “special” programs to “reach out” to thugs so they will play nice and not hurt us. Nothing is going to get better until peace loving people get as tough on these assholes as they are on us. Bulldoze the damn ghetto that surrounds Five Points. Then, send the dumb ass thug, and his relatives out to the second cousins, to jail until they are no longer for suitable for hard labor. There is no peaceful co-existence with vicious criminal predators. We need to quit kidding ourselves.