GREENVILLE (South Carolina, US), July 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two people were killed and eight wounded Sunday in a shooting at a nightclub in South Carolina, according to media reports.
A Greenville County Sheriff’s Office deputy driving in the area just before 2 a.m. local time noticed a “disturbance” at the Lavish Lounge, a bar and nightclub in Greenville County, and called for emergency backup because of active gunfire inside the building, according to Lt. Jimmy Bolt.
County deputies, officers from the Greenville Police Department and troopers from the state Highway Patrol responded and found multiple gunshot victims inside. Some had already been taken away from the club in personal vehicles, Bolt said.
Greenville County Coroner Parks Evans Jr. identified the dead as 23-year-old Mykala Bell of Greenville and 51-year-old Clarence Sterling Johnson of Duncan.
The people who are hurt have a range of injuries, some minor and some critical. All of the injured are being treated at Prisma Health Upstate’s Greenville Memorial Hospital, investigators said.
Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis said at a Sunday press conference that the shootings are “probably gang related.” He said there is a search for at least two suspects, including some who are “known gang members.” No descriptions of them have been made public.
Lewis said the investigation indicates there were about 200 people inside the club at the time of the shooting — more than the maximum capacity allowed in the business during emergency restrictions that are in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gov. Henry McMaster has ordered nightclubs shut down, and Lewis said the Sheriff’s Office is working to confirm that the club did not have a special exemption to the order.
Lewis said he would work with the State Law Enforcement Division and the state Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation on the possibility of getting the club’s license revoked.
The day before the shooting at Lavish Lounge, there was a separate shooting Saturday at nearby Dolce. A security guard was injured in the shooting at Dulce, and that case remains under investigation.
A sign outside Dolce describes the business as a as a bistro, hookah bar and lounge. It sits on the other side of Fuji Steak & Seafood, which is next to Lavish Lounge.
Bolt said investigators are interviewing witnesses and will look for connections between the two weekend shootings. — NNN-AGENCIES
