Isle Of Palms Shooting: Two Arrests Made

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Isle of Palms police officers have made two arrests following a Good Friday shooting that left six people (including five teenagers) wounded on one of South Carolina’s more upscale, exclusive beaches.

“Too many times this is happening in our country,” Isle of Palms mayor Phillip Pounds said during a Saturday morning news conference.

Charleston County sheriff Kristin Graziano echoed those comments, saying law enforcement agencies have “had a lot of practice” handling such incidents in recent years.

“Here we are – once again – talking to the public about a mass shooting in Charleston,” she said. “This is simply unacceptable. You have the actions of a few that are going to impact this entire community in a negative way – and its unacceptable.”

As we reported yesterday, Shots rang out at approximately 5:20 p.m. EDTon Friday near the Sea Cabins and Oceanside Villas – a complex located just off of the beach from the barrier island’s iconic 1,000-foot fishing pier. The gunfire reportedly erupted following an altercation between teens participating in a “senior skip day.”

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Most of the teens had gathered for their “skip day” at Isle of Palms county park – a recently renovated Charleston County facility which borders the Sea Cabins to the east.

According to sheriff Graziano, “this was an event that many schools participated in throughout the tri-county area – the school districts knew that this was happening.”

“If you know people are going to gather – young people are going to gather – in celebration of something please let us know,” she implored, saying law enforcement was not contacted about the “possibility” of the gathering until Friday morning.

IOP police chief Kevin Cornett – whose agency is leading the investigation into the shooting – told reporters on Saturday morning that a 16-year-old juvenile had been arrested and charged with possession of a stolen firearm and unlawful carrying of a firearm. He declined to say whether the juvenile was one of the gunmen involved in the incident.

“We cannot say that he is one of the individuals involved in the shooting,” Cornett said, citing his agency’s ongoing investigation.

Cornett also declined to release the juvenile’s name – an issue readers can rest assured we will be addressing in future coverage.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Shawn Alexander Martin-Goods was arrested and charged with the unlawful carrying of a pistol “in a municipal parking lot.” As with the unnamed juvenile, police declined to say whether Martin-Goods was one of the individuals involved in the shooting.

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In what would certainly seem to be a good indication he was not, Martin-Goods was granted a $25,000 surety bond on Saturday from North Charleston, S.C. magistrate John C. Kenney.

It seems unlikely such a bond would be granted if police believed Martin-Goods was a suspect in the shooting, but then again South Carolina has a long history of excessive leniency on this front.

Cornett confirmed our reporting yesterday that “several IOP officers were reportedly in the immediate vicinity of the shooting when it took place.”

“We already had personnel on the beach when the fights were breaking out,” Cornett confirmed. “We had several officers out there – they were taking people into custody trying to diffuse those situations. That’s when the shooting started.”

Shooting just happened at Isle of Palms pic.twitter.com/FtZZm0qXyJ

— Morsyn (@morsyn69) April 7, 2023

Cornett praised the response of his officers to the situation, crediting their “immediate actions to move in, stop the threat and to render aid to those who were injured.”

“I have to say once the shooting started – what I saw last night when I was looking at the videos – were officers putting people on the ground and getting on top of them,” he said. “Those officers sprinted toward the fire – toward the gunfire.”

Cornett also credited his officers for rendering emergency first aid to the wounded – including putting “pressure on wounds” and transporting victims off of the beach quickly to emergency medical technicians (EMTs).

As the investigation continued on Saturday, Cornett asked the public to assist his department and its law enforcement partners in their efforts.

“We are still investigating the actual shooting itself and we are asking anyone that has any information to call our tip line,” Cornett said.

That number is 843-529-3750.

“Anybody that has any information, call that phone number,” Cornett reiterated, specifically asking witnesses to provide videos of the shooting.

“If you have a video reach out to us and let us know so that we can get that information,” he said.

Sheriff Graziano was more blunt, calling on the parents of the teens involved – and school district officials – to get involved in the information gathering (and sharing) process.

“There are people that were on that beach yesterday that know what happened,” she said. “There are parents that know these kids were on the beach and know what happened. These parents need to have a serious conversation with these kids and if they have information that will help us get more guns off the street, they need to call that tip line and let us know.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.

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