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Initial police reports from yesterday’s triple homicide in the South Carolina Lowcountry paint a jarring picture of what transpired at the Abberly Crossing apartment complex in Ladson, S.C. – and at a nearby residence in North Charleston where the alleged killer took his own life.
As previously reported, a man armed with an AR-15 rifle killed three people at the apartment complex on Friday afternoon prior to shooting and killing himself at a home approximately eight miles away. A five-year-old child was abducted during the shooting, but the suspect released the child prior to taking his own life.
The suspect was related to the victims, police have said – and was reportedly going through divorce proceedings with one of the victims.
According to sources familiar with the initial reports filed in the aftermath of the shooting, shortly before 5:00 p.m. EDT detectives from the North Charleston Police Department (NCPD) were summoned to a pair of crime scenes. The first was apartment 636 at Abberly Crossing, which is located at 9698 Patriot Boulevard in Ladson.
There, three witnesses stated they “heard a commotion and banging noises coming from the apartment.”
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One witness opened the door to his apartment and alighted onto a breezeway – at which point he found himself face to face with the alleged perpetrator, whom he said was “carrying a child in his arms.”
The suspect proceed to pistol whip the witness – i.e. striking him in the face with a gun. He then descended the stairs of the complex to the parking lot where he approached a black Ford Explorer. At this point, the suspect “put the child in the vehicle” and donned a tan bulletproof vest and combat-style helmet while retrieving an AR-15 rifle from the back of the car.
With the AR-15 rifle in hand and five-year-old child in tow, the suspect fled the complex in the black Explorer.
A second witness who heard the banging noises ventured inside apartment 636 where he found a female victim on the floor of the kitchen area of the apartment what appeared to be gunshot wounds to her collar bone and neck. The witness checked the female victim for a pulse but “could not locate one.”
Upon arriving at the apartment, police found the female victim and two additional male victims located in a bedroom.
As noted in our prior report, information provided by witnesses enabled police to track the alleged perpetrator – and his vehicle – to 4352 Briarstone Court, a residence located approximately eight miles southeast of the Abberly Crossing apartments.
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RELATED | ‘LESBIAN CYBERATTACK’
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As police approached this residence and began attempting to examine the suspect vehicle, the alleged perpetrator emerged from the home accompanied by the five-year-old child. As soon as the suspect released the child from his grasp, he turned his gun on himself.
In the aftermath of the shootings, search warrants were obtained and executed at both addresses – enabling detectives to recover a pistol, a butcher’s knife, numerous shell casings and multiple electronic devices from the crime scene at the apartment. Detectives also recovered multiple items at the Briarstone Court address including a pistol, a pair of AR-15 rifles and “copious amounts of ammunition.” A wallet belonging to the alleged perpetrator was also retrieved from the suspect vehicle.
It’s still unclear what prompted the domestic dispute precipitating this spasm of violence. As of 4:30 p.m. EST today (December 28, 2024), neither the identities of the victims nor the alleged perpetrator have been released by the Dorchester County coroner’s office.
So far, investigators have only confirmed that the alleged perpetrator and his victims were related.
Once again, stay tuned to FITSNews for updates on this developing story…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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