5 people injured, including two critically, in shooting in South Carolina, cops say

A shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, has injured five people, including two who are in critical condition, police said.

In a news conference broadcast by WCSC, Charleston Police Chief Luther Reynolds said the shooting happened just before 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Officers arriving at the scene spotted a vehicle speeding away to a hospital and learned a shooting victim was inside, Reynolds said. At the hospital, the officer put chest seals on the person’s gunshot wounds before treatment in the emergency room, he said.

At least one of the victims was in surgery, police said.

“That means more grieving mothers,” Reynolds said. “If you’ve been out on any of these crime scenes, you’ve heard the sound of a wailing mother’s voice. I promise you if you’ve heard it, you’ll never get it out of your mind.”

Reynolds said he had just left a town hall about gun violence, in which he was a panelist, when he heard about the shooting. The town hall in North Charleston was hosted by Reps. Wendell Gilliard and Marvin Pendarvis.

“We have a violent crime problem in our nation,” Reynolds said. “We have a violent crime problem in our state. And we have a violent crime problem in the Lowcountry region.”

The shooting was still under investigation Wednesday night.

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