St. Helena Island mass shooting probe stalls

MORNING NEWSBREAK | Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner says his deputies are investigating the weekend shooting at a St. Helena Island bar that left four dead and 16 hurt, but they’re not getting lots of help from the hundreds partying before the melee.

“We had 700 people at this party. And we have yet to get a witness that can tell us who the shooters are. It’s ridiculous,” Tanner said, according to the Associated Press.

While the names of the victims have been released, no arrests have been made.

The sheriff said a dispute between individuals led to the early Sunday Gullah community shooting that sent partygoers scrambling for safety. The shooting at Willie’s Bar and Grill just down the road from the historic Penn Center began Saturday night as an alumni tailgating party. Shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday, gunshots rang outside of the event’s security barrier, according to a report.

In other area gun violence:

With a little help from our friends

“Fall” into the City Paper with donation. We’ve raised more than half of our fall fundraising goal of $25,000. Please consider donating $25 — or even $100 — to support independent journalism at the Charleston City Paper. Your help is appreciated.

In other recent headlines

CP NEWS: Thousands expected Saturday at No Kings protest in Columbia. Thousands of people from across the Palmetto State are expected at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Statehouse for what is expected to be part of the nation’s largest organized protest in history.

S.C. ROUNDUP: Elections chairman details reasons why director was fired. The chairman of the State Election Commission, a retired federal judge, says the firing of the top two elections staffers stemmed, in part, from a look into how 3,200 ballot scanners cost $32 million — $4 million more than a contract for them.

Charleston schools get $500K grant for opioid awareness. The grant will fund opioid awareness efforts.

Citadel to launch academic school on leadership, ethics. The Krause School of Leadership and Ethics will be the Citadel’s sixth academic school.

Some on Sullivan’s Island challenging maritime forest ruling. Some homeowners are challenging a state appellate court ruling that protects a maritime forest.

Mount Pleasant adopts civility pledge. An outburst at a special town council meeting led to town council’s adoption of a civility pledge for members.

Charleston leaders say they want input on transportation sales tax. They say they want to know what people want for priority projects if a half-cent transportation tax passes in 2026.