U.S-Two Dead, Eight Wounded Following South Carolina Club Shooting

A shooting at a South Carolina nightclub left two people dead and eight wounded, a sheriff’s official said.

Two Greenville County sheriff’s deputies noticed a disturbance at Lavish Lounge just before 2 a.m., and saw a large crowd running out of the building, Sheriff Hobart Lewis said at a press conference. There was “active gunfire from inside the building,” Lt. Jimmy Bolt said in an initial statement, and Lewis said all the shots were fired inside.

Both Lewis and Bolt initially said 12 people had been wounded — with at least four in critical condition, Lewis said — but Bolt later told WYFF-TV that the casualty figure had been revised. A phone call and text message to Lewis and an email to Bolt from The Associated Press seeking clarification weren’t immediately returned.

No one was immediately taken into custody. The sheriff’s office had “some suspect information,” Lewis said at the press conference, but wasn’t sure if there were multiple shooters.

“We don’t really have a person of interest that we can name,” Lewis said, later adding that authorities weren’t sure what led to the gunfire.

The names and precise conditions of the victims weren’t immediately released. Lewis said the victims were taken to the Prisma Health hospital in Greenville, some via private vehicle.

Prisma Health spokesperson Tammie Epps could not immediately comment when reached by telephone.

Lewis said a “very large crowd” was at the nightclub for “some type of concert. A post on Lavish Lounge’s Facebook page advertised a July 4 performance by trap rapper Foogiano.

An Instagram direct message from the AP wasn’t immediately returned, but a bookings representative told the AP via text message that Foogiano was fine and his team was safe.

The nightclub is about 5 miles (8 kilometers) southwest of downtown Greenville, in South Carolina’s Upstate region.

AFP