3 men killed in Jasper County shootings since Tuesday
Three men were shot and killed in separate incidents this week in Jasper County, according to Coroner Martin Sauls.
It was not clear Thursday whether the three shooting deaths were related. Sauls said late Thursday that the S.C. Law Enforcement Division is assisting the Jasper County Sheriff's Office which each incident.
About 7 a.m. Thursday, a man was found dead of a gunshot wound on the side of Knowles Island Road next to a car, Sauls said. An autopsy of Terrance Deanthony Johnson, 32, of Ridgeland will be performed Saturday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.
On Wednesday evening, another man was shot and killed in a yard off Church Road in the Hardeeville area, Jasper County Sheriff Gregory Jenkins said. Dewayne Lamont Manuel, 41, of Hardeeville was found at about 7:20 p.m. by friends and relatives who told deputies they heard shots fired but did not see what happened, Jenkins said.
Jenkins and Sauls said they will not know how many times Johnson and Manuel were shot until their autopsies are completed. Manuel's will be performed at MUSC on Friday, Sauls said.
On Tuesday afternoon, Anthony King Jr., 25, of Ridgeland was shot multiple times on Captain Bill Road, Sauls said. He was taken to Coastal Carolina Hospital, where he died of his injuries.
His autopsy was completed Thursday, but Sauls said he has not reviewed it.
A 36-year-old man from Newington, Ga., was shot and killed in front of another house on Captain Bill Road in October, according to the Jasper County Sheriff's Office. The brother of victim Maurice Wright, Ridgeland's Nathaniel Wright, has been charged with murder in the death.
Reached Thursday morning, the sheriff said no suspects had been identified in Manuel's death. Attempts to reach Jenkins and a Sheriff's Office spokesman Thursday evening were unsuccessful.
Sauls said it was unusual but unfortunately not unheard of for the county to experience a spate of murders.
"It doesn't happen all the time, but it's happened before," he said.
Staff writer Laura Oberle contributed to this report.
Follow reporter Rebecca Lurye on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Rebecca.
Related content:
- Ridgeland man charged with brother's murder, October 2, 2014
This story was originally published November 13, 2014 at 7:53 PM with the headline "3 men killed in Jasper County shootings since Tuesday."