A week after fatal Wendy’s shooting, Bluffton police offer reward
Those living in the Bluffton neighborhoods that sit on S.C. I70 were shaken last week when news broke of a fatal shooting at Wendy’s just down the road from communities made up largely of young families.
Facebook users seemed to be most frightened by the lack of details in the case.
“Doesn’t exactly feel like there’s no danger when the suspect took off and we have no description,” one Facebook user said.
A week later, those details still aren’t clear.
Abraham Gadson, 29, of Bluffton was shot to death at about 8:30 p.m. Sept. 13. He was inside the restaurant and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a Bluffton Police Department news release.
The Wendy’s is one of the few restaurants serving the multiple large-scale neighborhoods that have popped up on the corridor in recent years in an area that has seen little violent crime.
In the days following the shooting, some Facebook users expressed their concerns about visiting the restaurant again.
“Well, no Wendy’s for us for awhile,” one Facebook user said. “Freaking Crazy.”
On Thursday, the Bluffton Police Department offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.
Bluffton Police Capt. Joe Babkiewicz said the reward comes from the department’s drug funds and is not offered in every case, he said.
“In this particular case, people are hesitant to come forward with information,” Babkiewicz said Thursday. “We are hoping this reward will help us get some additional information.”
There have also not been arrests in a second Bluffton shooting that happened Sunday night on Albert Green Lane. A woman was airlifted to a hospital after being shot in the stomach Sunday night inside a Bluffton residence, the department has said.
Suspects were questioned in the Sunday shooting but no one has been arrested.
The last murder the Bluffton Police Department investigated was in June 2016. Roy Leon Hamilton, 21, of Bluffton, was fatally shot in Oscar Frazier Park.
Thomas Bush, 29, was charged with murder and attempted murder following the incident.