ST. HELENA ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — A mass shooting at a crowded bar on an idyllic island considered to be the largest Gullah community on the South Carolina coast has left four people dead and at least 20 injured, officials said Sunday.
A large crowd was at Willie's Bar and Grill on St. Helena Island when sheriff's deputies arrived and found several people with gunshot wounds early Sunday.
“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.”
The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on the social platform X that many people ran to nearby businesses seeking shelter from the gunfire.
“This is a tragic and difficult incident for everyone," the statement said. "We ask for your patience as we continue to investigate this incident. Our thoughts are with all of the victims and their loved ones."
Among the injured, four were in critical condition at area hospitals Sunday afternoon. The victims’ identities were not released.
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.”
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace posted on X that she was “COMPLETELY HEARTBROKEN to learn about the devastating shooting in Beaufort County."
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.
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Associated Press writer Kathy McCormack contributed from Concord, New Hampshire.