‘Multiple shots’ fired near Coligny Beach early Wednesday leave two wounded, police say
A shooting near Coligny Beach involving two groups of young people early Wednesday morning left two people wounded, according to police.
“Multiple shots” were fired in a parking lot near the entrance to Coligny Beach around 12:30 a.m., leaving a 20-year-old woman and a teen male injured, according to Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Bob Bromage.
The shooting followed a verbal dispute between the groups, one of which was “local” and the other from out-of-state, Bromage said.
Luke Visscher, an employee at a nearby restaurant, said he saw parts of the altercation.
Visscher, a Hilton Head resident, said he was walking to the beach before leaving to go home when he saw a group he said “was up to no good.”
“I heard 10-15 gunshots and ran underground (to a garage),” he said in Facebook message to The Island Packet.
Visscher said he called 911 after the hearing the gunshots and pointed officers in the direction of a car he saw drive away.
Bromage said deputies were “given information a vehicle was fleeing the scene.”
A teen involved in the altercation drove the wounded woman to Hilton Head Hospital, reaching speeds above 100 mph, said Bromage. Police pursued the car and caught up with it at the hospital. A deputy detained the teenager who was driving, charging him with reckless driving, failure to stop for blue light, and not having a drivers license, according to Bromage.
The teenager, who was from out-of-state, was sent to the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice in Columbia, he said. The juvenile is not identified as one of the shooters, Bromage said.
Both the woman and the teenager who were shot have since been transported to Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah.
An investigation into the shooting is active, according to Bromage.
He said a search of the scene uncovered a handgun.
This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 12:16 PM.
