BEAUFORT COUNTY, Ga. (WSAV) — Four people are dead and at least 20 more are injured after an overnight shooting at a crowded bar on the South Carolina island of St. Helena, authorities have confirmed.
According to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, the shooting happened around 1 a.m. on Sunday at Willie’s Bar and Grill, where at least 100 people were gathered.
Several people were found suffering from gunshot wounds. BCSO confirmed at least 20 people were injured during the shooting. Four people were transported in critical condition to the hospital, while some gunshot victims arrived at the hospital on their own.
Four people were pronounced dead at the scene. The victims’ identities have not been released.
“Multiple victims and witnesses ran to the nearby businesses and properties seeking shelter from the gun shots,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement on the social media platform X.
“This is a tragic and difficult incident for everyone. We ask for your patience as we continue to investigate this incident. Our thoughts are with all of the victims and their loved ones,” the statement said.
BCSO said it is “investigating persons of interest,” but did not release any additional details.
“Screaming and panic and fear,” bar owner Willie Turral said, describing the shooting. He was inside when he heard shots fired outside the bar. “These things went off in bursts.”
Turral said the bar was packed for an event for alumni of Battery Creek High School in Beaufort, about 10 miles northwest of St. Helena Island. He said that people were having a good time when the shots were heard.
“It was scary from the inside,” he said, with “people not knowing what’s really going on outside, people trying to get to safety.”
An estimated 5,000 or more people living on St. Helena Island are descended from enslaved people who worked rice plantations in the area before they were freed by the Civil War.
Willie’s Bar and Grill advertises itself as serving authentic Gullah-inspired cuisine.
“We’re not just a restaurant but a community pillar committed to giving back, especially to our youth,” it says on its website.
The bar recently hosted an event called “One Gullah Nation,” an art expo with storytelling and poetry.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.