By HEATHER RUPPE
The State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has made arrests in the recent April Fool’s Day shooting that left multiple Colleton County people injured.
The incident occurred on April 1st at about 11:30 p.m. on Logan Farm Road in a rural part of Walterboro, about two miles from Mt. Carmel Road.
According to information provided by the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office, 911-disaptchers received multiple emergency calls about “people shooting at each other.” When officers arrived to the scene, they found five people, all of whom had at least gunshot wound each.
On Tuesday, April 12th, SLED authorities announced the arrests of Melvin Lemacks, 56, and his sons, 25-year-old Louis Lemacks; 19-year-old Zakery Lemacks; and 17-year-old Ellison Lemacks.
Each of the suspects are charged with five counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime.
According to arrest warrants released by SLED, the father and sons stopped the victims’ vehicle on a rural road near the defendant’s driveway and struck the victims’ vehicle with a baseball bat. The father and his sons then all opened fire on the victims’ vehicle, striking the vehicle “numerous times,” subsequently disabling it,” the affidavit states. The victims fled their vehicle on foot and were stopped by law enforcement officers near the crime scene.
The shooting occurred along a rural dirt lane road, about two miles off of Mt. Carmel Road outside of Walterboro. Deputies initially found four shooting victims about one-quarter-of-a-mile south of the incident location.
According to earlier reports by Colleton County Fire-Rescue Chief Barry McRoy, a 17-year-old male was treated for a gunshot wound to his abdomen at a house near the initial location of the shooting.
A 22-year-old man was also treated at the scene: he had multiple gunshot wounds. A 19-year-old man with two gunshot wounds was taken to Trident Medical Center and a 33-year-old woman was taken to Colleton Medical Center with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.
The age of the fifth gunshot victim is not known.
Combined, four ambulances and two medical helicopters responded to the scene.
The Colleton County Sheriff’s Office deferred all media inquiries on this case to SLED.
