Isle of Palms Police Chief Kevin Cornett speaks during an April 8 press conference concerning the shooting on the IOPbeach. Looking on were Fire Chief Craig Oliverius and City Administrator Desiree Fragoso.
A week after five people were injured by gunfire on the beach at Isle of Palms, investigators were continuing to sort through “hundreds of hours” of video in an effort to determine who actually did the shooting.
IOP Police Spokesman Sgt. Matt Storen said April 14 that investigators were looking at videos collected from online sources, those that were taken with cellphones and footage from police body cams. He pointed out that the police department also had received information from local residents and others who were on the beach at the time of the shooting.
“We got some good stuff out of the tip line,” he said. “Any lead is a good lead for our investigators.”
The shooting took place late in the afternoon of April 7. It was originally reported that six people were injured, but the number was later reduced to five. Storen said Charleston County EMS double-counted the victim who was injured in a motor vehicle accident on the Mount Pleasant side of the IOP Connector on his way to the hospital.
“Once detectives completed all interviews and conducted follow-ups, Isle of Palms Police confirmed that there were only five victims,” Storen said. They included two 15-year-old males, a 16-year-old male, a 17-year-old male and a 28-year-old woman, described by IOP Police Chief Kevin Cornett as “a bystander.” All but the woman were released from the Medical University of South Carolina Trauma Center in Charleston the next day.
Cornett said at an April 8 press conference that two males had been arrested, but he added that he didn’t know if either of them was involved in the shooting. An 18-year-old was charged with unlawfully carrying a weapon, and a 16-year-old was charged with possession of a stolen firearm. Storen said April 14 that Shawn Alexander Martin-Goods and the juvenile both had been released on bail.
At the April 8 press conference, IOP Mayor Phillip Pounds praised the efforts of the IOP Police and Fire Departments in controlling the situation and providing medical care for those who were injured. Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano called the shooting “unacceptable.” She said local law enforcement agencies knew the morning of April 7 that a large number of high school students from many schools in the tri-county area would be at the IOP beach later in the day. She urged anyone with information about the situation to call the hotline at 843-529-3750.
“I guarantee they know something, and we need them to come forward,” she said.
Cornett said his department would be leading the investigation, with assistance from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The chief said officers were on hand at 5:24 p.m. when two separate fights broke out. He said gunfire erupted while police were trying to break up those altercations.
“We already had resources at the beach when we saw a crowd gathering,” Cornett said.
“The shooting started when we started handcuffing the fighters.”
“It breaks my heart to see we have juveniles involved in this activity,” the police chief added.
Officers from several agencies helped out, including the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office; the Charleston, Mount Pleasant, North Charleston, Sullivan’s Island and Summerville Police Departments; the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office; SLED; the FBI; the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources; Charleston County EMS; Port City EMS; the Isle of Palms and Mount Pleasant Fire Departments; the Charleston County Emergency Management Division; and Charleston County Consolidated Dispatch.
