Police say they have IDd suspects in Hilton Head shooting that injured child

More than a week after a child was shot at a Hilton Head Island apartment complex, Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office says they have identified people of interest and there is no public threat, but some living in the complex remain in fear.

Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Bob Bromage said Tuesday the Aug. 21 shooting at Hilton Head Island Gardens in which a young child was shot in the arm remains under investigation.

The child’s mother said an unknown suspect kicked in the door and started shooting, the sheriff’s office previously reported.

“Evidence at the scene leaves us to believe there was an exchange of gunfire,” Bromage said Tuesday. “It appears there was more than one gun involved.”

The child was airlifted to Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah and released last week, he said.

A knock on the door of the residence where the child was shot went unanswered Thursday. A child’s bike leaned on the railing of the second floor breezeway.

Linda Ventura, a resident of Hilton Head Gardens, said she feels unsafe knowing no one has been arrested.

“People don’t believe ‘There is no public threat,’” Ventura said referencing comments made by the Sheriff’s Office. “I put my mattress and my son’s on the floor to sleep at night.”

There are a lot of families living in the complex, Ventura said.

“People out here aren’t bad,” Ventura said. “People who didn’t know that girl’s baby were out here crying. We don’t even let people drive fast here. We yell out, ‘Slow down.’”

Ventura disagrees with people’s statements that call for the apartment complex to be tore down because of a past of crime in the area. She said people who live there need an affordable place to live.

“It is needed for people who are not able to live elsewhere,” Ventura said. “Sometimes it more than just financial trouble, sometimes it is health problems.”

Ventura said she works at housekeeping jobs to support her and her son. She said she has hopes of learning sign language so she can be an interpreter and one day maybe own a little bit of land where she can keep animals.

Some residents at the complex, including Ventura, have said a gate could help control crime.

“You can’t keep people from doing something stupid,” Ventura said. “It would just help as far as it would show people you can’t ride up here as you please.”

Costs for the gate could be a problem, Ventura said.

“People don’t have a lot of money,” Ventura said. “If someone could help us have a gate it would help the people here.”

This story was originally published August 29, 2017 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Police say they have IDd suspects in Hilton Head shooting that injured child."