A 16-year-old was injured and two people have been arrested after at least 75 gunshots were fired in a northeast Columbia neighborhood Tuesday night, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said Thursday.
Approximately 80 juveniles met in parking lots near a community pool in the Villages at Lakeshore community before multiple shooters “indiscriminately” fired guns that included automatic weapons, Lott said in a press conference providing updates on the shooting that was first reported Wednesday.
“That’s something you see or hear on nightly news with what’s going on between Israel and Hamas, but this is right here in Richland County,” Lott said.
He said it was “only by the grace of God” that more people weren’t injured.
The shooting was planned, but a motive has not been made public, according to Lott.
When deputies responded to calls from residents around 8 p.m. Tuesday, several vehicles were speeding away and individuals were running on foot. Deputies named 17-year-old Treshawn Keller as a person they saw running with a gun. Deputies chased Keller on foot and arrested him. The charges against Keller include assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, unlawful possession of a machine gun and possession of a stolen pistol, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.
The sheriff’s department made another arrest Thursday morning. Details about the person’s name and charges have not been released. Deputies also recovered three guns, including a stolen gun that had been modified with a Glock switch, an illegal device that can turn a pistol into an automatic weapon.
This is the second shooting in the Lakeshore community in the past year, Lott said.
It’s also part of a larger pattern involving juveniles becoming involved in gun violence in Richland County and across the country, according to Lott.
In addition to other recent shootings involving juveniles, Tuesday night’s shooting echoes an incident that occurred last year when nine people were shot at an after-prom party in Meadowlake Park. Lott said the number of shots fired and the terror felt by the community during Tuesday’s shooting “brings back the horror” of the Meadowlake Park incident.
The sheriff’s department plans to make more arrests as the investigation continues. Lott said the juveniles will be charged as adults.
He asked community members who live on Hardwood Drive, Lakevillage Drive, Longtown Road, or Killian Green Drive to help identify the suspects by sharing videos from doorbell cameras or other cameras with the sheriff’s department.
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