Thread: SC boy shot, killed trick-or-treating; 2 injured

SUMTER, S.C. – A 12-year-old boy trick-or-treating with his family in central South Carolina was shot from inside a home Friday and killed, and his father and brother were wounded by the gunfire, authorities said.

The shooting suspect, Quentin Patrick, was in custody, a jail official said. Patrick, 22, has been charged with murder and three counts of assault and battery with intent to kill. The jail official said she didn't know whether Patrick had an attorney and his telephone number was unpublished.

The family was headed home from a city-sponsored event downtown when they decided to stop at a few homes, Sumter Police Chief Patty Patterson said. The father and his four children approached a home with a porch light on about 8:30 p.m. EDT while their mother waited nearby in a vehicle.

As the family was at the door, they thought they heard fireworks. The 12-year-old boy, his father and brother were all hit by the gunfire. The boy died at a hospital, Coroner Verna Moore said. The other two children were not hurt.

The boy's father and brother were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Authorities have not released the identity of the family.

Patterson also would not release any more details about the shooting.

"The investigation is continuing into what has been a very tragic evening," Patterson said. "Our sorrow and sympathy goes out to this family."

The police chief said there were other people inside the home at the time of the shooting, but she didn't expect any of them to be charged.

A neighbor said he heard a loud noise about the time of the shooting and thought it was simply Halloween mischief.

"I thought, trick-or-treat night — pranks go down. Anything goes," said Lenwood Dixon, 49, who works at a hazardous waste and recycling company. "I heard a noise like maybe gunfire, then my daughter saw a bunch of lights flashing and saw some cops."

In his six years in the neighborhood, he said he wasn't aware of any violent crimes. He said a few trick-or-treaters had been on his block that night.

"I'm surprised. Since I was here, I'd never heard of anything like that happening. It's a quiet neighborhood," he said. "You don't see many children in the neighborhood. It's more elderly."

That's so f*cked up!

I'll keep them in my thoughts.

What a tragedy! It is scary when people can't even trust their own neighbors anymore!



Trick-or-treater shot in South Carolina

By MEG KINNARD
Associated Press Writer
Saturday, November 1, 2008 2:23 PM CDT


SUMTER, S.C. — A 12-year-old boy was shot to death through a front door while trick-or-treating with his family, shocking residents of a South Carolina neighborhood where most people know each other well.

“I just hate it that that little kid got killed. It used to be the quietest place. I knew everybody and everybody knew me,” Vivian Johnson, 81, said Saturday.

She has lived for decades two doors from the house where the boy was killed and his father and brother injured Friday night, but she said she does not know the people who live there now.

Police offered no motive and said it did not appear the family knew the people in the house, which is off a busy, two-lane road in Sumter, a city of about 40,000 people 45 miles east of Columbia. On Saturday, shattered glass still covered the front stoop and about 20 bullet holes peppered the front door and a front-window casement.

A 22-year-old man was charged with murder but it wasn’t clear how — or if — he was connected to the family.

“Most times you can find an explanation no matter how strange or twisted it is. Right now we have no explanation,” said Mayor Joseph T. McElveen. “Sumter’s certainly not a violent town but we’re not isolated to having tragedies like this happen. It doesn’t make it any better.“

Police said the boy, his parents and three other siblings were returning from a city-sponsored event downtown where about 4,000 costumed children had celebrated Halloween when they stopped to collect candy at a home with a porch light on. The father and children went to the door while the mother stayed in the car nearby.

As the family waited, they thought they heard fireworks. The father and two boys were hit by gunfire from inside the house. The 12-year-old died at a hospital, Coroner Verna Moore said. His father and brother were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The other two children were not hurt. Authorities have not identified the family.

Quentin Patrick, 22, has been charged with murder and three counts of assault and battery with intent to kill. The home where the shooting happened was not listed as his address and it wasn’t clear why he was there.

Sumter Police Chief Patty Patterson said there were other people inside during the shooting, but she didn’t expect them to be charged.

There was no answer Saturday morning at the mobile home police listed as Patrick’s address, although neighbor Larry Sigler said he thought Patrick’s mother lived there.

Sigler said Patrick didn’t seem like someone prone to violence.

County Councilman Charles Edens said he lives just a few blocks away from where the shooting happened and passed the flashing lights of police cars on his way back from trick-or-treating with his 13-year-old daughter, who was upset at the news.

“It’s going to put a dampening on Halloween,” Eden said. “I would think twice about going to a door that we don’t know who lives behind.“

I heard on the news that the shooter said he thought they were going to rob him thats why he shot them. I wonder if he was high or drunk he had to know it was Halloween. He should have looked out the window and seen who it is. I feel for the family and the boy that died.

Dad: Slain SC trick-or-treater saved him, siblings

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081104/...XrdsZBZmxG2ocA

SUMTER, S.C. – The parents of a 12-year-old shot to death while trick-or-treating said Monday they hope the man accused of killing him suffers for the rest of his life.

T.J. Darrisaw died Halloween night after police say a convicted felon unleashed a barrage of bullets from inside a home, pumping at least 29 shots through the closed door and front of the house. The boy's father and brother also were wounded.

"The injury to my arm is not as bad as the injury to my heart. I've lost a piece of my heart forever," father Freddie Grinnell Jr. said as he sat in his living room Monday.

Police said the suspect, Quentin Patrick, 22, opened fire with an AK-47 because he thought he was being robbed. The family went to the home because the porch light was on, usually a signal that trick-or-treaters are welcome.

Two of three siblings who went to the door with their father were wearing ghoulish masks. Their parents said the slain boy was determined to get candy first, so he was in front when the shots were fired.

"T.J. saved us that night," Grinnell said. "He took most of the shots."

When the shooting stopped, Grinnell said, the door swung open. Patrick stood there, gun in hand, and said, "Oh, no."

"I was holding my son while he was bleeding, and he was backing out of the yard," Grinnell recalled.

Grinnell and another son who was shot were treated for minor injuries and released from a hospital.

T.J.'s mother, Daphne Grinnell, said T.J. liked to bake cakes, in part because he relished licking the batter, and constantly asked what he could do to help out around the home. The seventh-grader was on his middle school drill team and loved math and board games.

"He was always up for a challenge," his father said, recounting how his son got up early for math tutoring. "I was looking forward to his graduation, to high school, to college. I was looking forward to all of it because I know he would make it."

Patrick, who is charged with murder and three counts of assault and battery with intent to kill, was denied bond Monday. He cried and wiped away a tear as the charges were read. He did not enter a plea and a lawyer has not been assigned to his case yet.

State records show Patrick has been charged with evading police and a string of drug crimes since he turned 18 in 2004. He was sentenced to three years in prison but released in January 2007 under a program for first-time offenders after serving just five months.

Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek the death penalty, but the police chief in Sumter, a city of 40,000 about 45 miles east of Columbia, said she will recommend they do.

T.J.'s parents said they want Patrick to suffer for a lifetime behind bars.

"He should have to live every day in jail and see it and feel it every day for the rest of his life," Daphne Grinnell said. "The death penalty would be a shortcut."

Freddie Grinnell Jr. said he doesn't want an apology.

"'I'm sorry' does not bring my child back," he said. "I want justice."

Meanwhile, he continues to relive the nightmare of the shooting.

"I see the same thing," Grinnell said. "We were just standing on the front porch for a second, and all hell broke loose. It happened so quickly."

- A convicted felon with am AK47. NICE!