Ten people were shot and three cops were injured after gunfire erupted at a Memorial Day party in downtown Charleston, South Carolina on Monday night, officials said.
Shots first rang out just as a Charleston police officer responded to the massive party in a vacant lot near 41 South Street around 11:40 p.m.
Somebody from the gathering fired twice at the cop car, striking one of the vehicle’s windows, police said. The officer was not struck, but was injured by glass shrapnel.
“Let me tell you something. As we stand here right now, we’re lucky we don’t have a dead cop or dead citizens or dead community members,” Charleston Police Chief Luther T. Reynolds said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
One of gunshot victims was 17-years-old and the rest were adults.
Reynolds said that four of those shot were in critical condition.
Two Charleston County Sheriff’s Office deputies were hurt trying to control the crowd.
Video obtained by WCSC shows party-goers running for cover when shots are fired.
Several other cars in the area were struck by gunfire, cops said. The crime scene spanned several blocks.
The shooting in Charleston was one of over a dozen mass shootings in cities across the country over the holiday weekend.
Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg called Monday’s incident a “mass shooting,” and said the city is “counting our blessings that no one in this incident was killed.”
The mayor called for action to combat gun violence, citing last week’s school shooting in Uvalde, Texas where 21 people were killed, and the shooting at a Buffalo supermarket earlier this month that left 10 dead.
“Think about that, y’all. Every 16 hours in America there’s a mass shooting. I don’t know about you, but I’m angry about it. I’m mad about it. I’m fed up. I concur with many of our citizens here, and across the country, that enough is enough,” he said.
With Post Wires