Three shootings in northern Beaufort County this week leave 2 injured, 1 man dead
Three shootings in Burton this week have resulted in two men injured and a 52-year-old man killed on Wednesday night, according to police.
Malcolm Donaldson, 52, of Burton died at Beaufort Memorial Hospital on Wednesday after his car was shot on Lexxus Lane near Milledge Village Road, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said.
The car that Donaldson was in was hit by multiple gunshots, said Sheriff’s Office Maj. Bob Bromage. The agency believes more than one suspect was involved, he said.
Donaldson’s autopsy is scheduled for Friday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.
In two other unrelated shootings in Burton, two men sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
The incidents show a surge of gun violence in an area that’s no stranger to shootings.
On Monday after 2 p.m., the Sheriff’s Office responded to Ramsey Loop in Burton to find a man in a wheelchair who was shot in the finger, according to a police report.
The following day around 7:45 p.m., deputies responded to Ribaut Road, where they met a victim of a shooting that had happened earlier in Burton. The victim’s injuries were minor, and he was uncooperative with police, a Sheriff’s Office report said.
Wednesday’s homicide marks the at least seventh shooting in northern Beaufort County — including the City of Beaufort, Seabrook and Burton — just this month.
The New York Times reports a recent spike in gun violence across the country last weekend, an “ominous harbinger” for the upcoming summer months which are usually more deadly in the U.S. Criminologists point to a confluence of factors leading to the increase in violence, including continued social and economic impacts from the pandemic and the accompanying increase in gun ownership, the article says.
Anyone with information on Wednesday’s killing may contact Lt. Angela Crumpton at 843-255-3409 or share a tip anonymously with Crime Stoppers of the Lowcountry at 843-554-1111.
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 12:43 PM.
